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WATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Crass LX.—AVES:

A sirp is known by its feathers. Indeed, so distinctive is this sentence that it
does not admit of a single exception, for no bird is without feathers, and no animal is
invested with feathers except the birds. And so singularly adapted is this covering
to the aérial habits of most of the members of the bird elass, that its structure is nearly
the same in all flying birds, while the only aberrant types of feathers are found in the
ostriches, the kiwis, and the penguins, all of which are deprived of the power of flight.
In the two first-mentioned groups the feathers resemble hairs more or less superficially,
and the representatives of the last order present a plumage somewhat suggestive of
scales, but both the hair-like and the scale-like appendages are in every respect true
feathers. Not less remarkable as indicative of the perfection of the feather is the
fact that the feathers of the oldest bird known, the fossil Archwopteryx from Solen-
hofen, were essentially like those of the majority of existing birds, and that nature
has not been able to improve much upon that admirable combination of lightness and
firmness since the Jurassic period.

But the feather is not the only characteristic attribute of the birds, although it is
the only one which at once distinguishes them from all other living beings. From the
reptiles the feathered tribes differ, among other things, in possessing a complete double
circulation of the blood, which is warm, while the absence of milk glands separates
them widely from the mammals. Further characters which separate the birds from
the mammals are the single condyle of the occiput, and the articulation of the lower
jaw with a separate bone, the os qguadratum, which again articulates with the skull.
The absence of a diaphragm may also be quoted in this connection. In these and
several other particulars the birds show a near relationship to the reptiles, so close,
indeed, that they have been included with them in a separate group, Sauropsida; at any
rate, the birds are more nearly related to the reptiles than they are to the mammals, not-
withstanding the beak of the duck-mole and the recent re-discovery of the fact that
the Echidna lays eggs, and whatever was the origin of the mammals, so much is cer-
tain, that they sprang from an ancestral stock with which the birds are only remotely
connected. Their position between the reptiles and the mammals in our linear system
does not indicate any intermediate position in nature, but is simply due to our inability
of expressing exact relationships on a flat sheet of paper.

There are other features which frequently are attributed to the bird class as diag-
nostic, but which really are of but little account; for instance, the modification of the
jaws into a bgak sheathed with horn and destitute of teeth, for not only have the

VoL. Iv. —1

2 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

turtles and the duck-mole similar beaks, but we know now that teeth were as common
in certain groups of extinct birds as they are in reptiles or mammals nowadays. Nor
is the laying of eggs and their hatching an exclusive characteristic of the feathered
tribes, for we have birds which leave the hatching to be done by the heat of decaying
vegetable matter heaped upon them, while the latest indications are that the old report
of the Monotremes laying eggs, hitherto regarded as a fable, is substantially true.
The so-called ‘pneumacity’ of the bird-skeleton, or the peculiarity of the bones being
hollow and filled with air through the canals in connection with the respiratory organs,
has also been regarded as belonging to the birds only, but the bones of the extinct
Pterosaurians and some other forms were also filled with air, air-canals being present
in nearly all the bones of the skeletons of the larger species, while several recent
birds, for instance the kiwis and the penguins, are entirely destitute of pneumacity in
any part of the skeleton.

We will mention one more character which cannot be upheld as peculiar to the
birds in view of our present knowledge. It is well known that in birds the different
bones of the skull grow together at an early age, fusing so completely that the borders
of the individual bones are completely obliterated, while in most other vertebrates
‘these bones remain separated by sutures during the whole lifetime of the animal.
Still there have been found remains of an extinct bird, the remarkable Gastornis, in
which the sutures were permanent, while, on the other hand, all tends to show that
the ancient Pterosaurians had the different pieces of the skull fused together as com-
pletely and as early as any bird now living.

Since we thus have to fall back upon the feathers as the most distinctive feature
of a bird, a brief comment upon their structure and origin may not be out of place.
Comparing the scales of reptiles, the feathers of birds, and the hairs of mammals, the
popular verdict would probably be in favor of regarding the hairs and the feathers as
more resembling one another than either of them do the scales, particularly when we
remember the many hair-like appendages in birds, Scientific investigation, however,
seemed to prove the correctness of quite the opposite view, and the alleged identity of
scales and feathers has been frequently used as a further argument for the close relation-
ship between reptiles and birds, the scale-like feathers along the edge of the penguin’s
wing being regarded as a structure intermediate in character between the two kinds of
integument and a proof of their common origin, while much stress was laid upon the
differences between hair and feather. True, the latter differ radically, particularly in
their early stages, for a hair is formed in a solid ingrowth of the epidermis, while the
feather originates on the top of a large papilla; but the homology of the latter with the
scales of the reptiles is not therefore a sure thing, and Mr. J. A. Jeffries has recently
brought forward arguments which indicate a different nature of the two structures, the
strongest being that feathers may grow upon seuta. It should also be remarked that
the above-mentioned seale-like feathers of the penguin are in every respect true feathers,
and not half feather, half seale.

Young birds, when breaking the egg enclosing them, vary greatly in their develop-
ment, some being quite naked, as, for example, most Passeres, Picarixw, herons, and
cormorants, but soon assuming a more or less full covering of soft down, which again
is replaced by firmer feathers; other kinds are not hatched before the downy clothing
is perfected within the egg-shell, while the final feather plumage is put on afterwards;
the former are called Gymnopiedes (gymnos, naked; paides, children); the latter
group; Dasypsedes (dasys, downy). All the Gymnopzedes are fed in the nest by the

INTRODUCTION. 3

parents (Altrices), and so are many of those which are born down-clad, but a great
number of the latter are able to run about immediately upon leaving the egg (Pre-
coces). A few birds remain so long within the egg that the feathers are developed
before the shell bursts, this being the case with the young talegallas, and these might
be called Pteropades.

As remarked above, the feather is formed on a dermal papilla. At an early stage
such papill arise above the surface of the skin, each of which is grooved longitudi-
nally on one side. This median groove sends off laterally numerous smaller ones in
an obliquely upward direction, gradually becoming shallower. The secretion of the
papilla moulds in these furrows, and, when pushed upward by new formations below,
dries and splits into a feather, consisting of a scape and disconnected lateral barbs.
These imperfect feathers are called plumules, and, taken collectively, constitute the
down. While the papilla from which these plumules were formed sinks later on into
a pit or follicle of the skin, another crop of more perfect feathers starts from papille
at the bottom of pits which are situated at the intersections of numerous ridges
of the skin (the latter without sudoriferous glands and sebaceous follicles). These
papillze are more deeply grooved, and have, moreover, very often a corresponding but
slighter furrow on the opposite side, from which originates a usually small extra feather,
known as the after-shaft (hyporachis), and attached to the under side of the main
shaft. These stronger and more perfect feathers, which are called contour feathers,
consist of a central stem and a lateral ‘web’ on each side. The former is composed
of two parts; a lower, cylindrical, and hollow portion, the quill proper, enclosing the
papilla, which shrivels when the feather ceases to grow; it merges into the terminal
part, the shaft, which is four-sided and solid, and from which spring two lateral sets
of barbs or radii; these have on their margins secondary processes, barbules, which by
means of small hooks or barbicels interlock with the neighboring barbs, thus uniting
them into continuous and elastic ‘webs,’ termed the inner or outer web, according to
the relative position to the median line of the body.

Only in a few of the recent birds, as in penguins and ostriches, are the feathers dis-
tributed evenly over the whole body. In all Euornithes they are arranged in special
and regular groups or tracts (pterylie), separated by naked or downy spaces (apteria),
which are concealed by the overlying feathers of the neighboring tracts, an arrangement
by which smoothness of the plumage is secured whatever movement the bird may under-
take. It may be regarded as a rule that the smaller the feathers in a tract the smaller
are the separating spaces, the latter sometimes becoming so narrow as to be nearly
obliterated. The different grouping of the tracts, their distribution and ramification,
are subject to considerable variation, and are to a certain extent valuable for syste-
matic purposes, because sometimes diagnostic of important divisions.

Two of the pteryle are of special interest and importance —the alar and the
caudal tracts, both including the strongest feathers of the whole body. From the
former spring the remiges, which form the essential part of the wing, and without
which no bird can fly. Those which are fixed to the hand are called primaries ;
secondaries are those on the forearm, the three innermost of which are styled tertiaries.
The number of primaries is usually ten, often nine, very seldom eleven; that of sec-
ondaries from six to forty. The bases of these are overlaid by several rows of larger
and smaller contour feathers, the upper or under wing coverts, according to their posi-
tion on the upper or lover surface of the wing. For further detail we refer to the
accompanying cut, which will give more information at a glance than we can detail in

4 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

a long description ; but we would like to call attention to the middle row (me in the
figure), the so-called ‘middle coverts,’ which in many birds, particularly among the
Passeres, are arranged in a manner dif-
ferent from the other feathers, as they
overlap each other with their inner
edges, while all the other feathers have
the outer margin free, and the inner one
covered by the overlying feathers. The
caudal tract embraces the tail feathers
(rectrices) and their upper and under
coverts. They are in pairs, and are
; counted from the outside towards the
centre. Their number varies from eight
P > to thirty-two, but twelve is the rule, less

Fic. 1.— Feathers of a passerine wing, seen from above; the rare exception.

a, alula; p, primaries; /c, lesser coverts; gc, greater ¥

coverts; pe, primary ¢overts; mc, middle coverts; 8, Besides these normal feathers there

secondaries; sc, scapulars; ¢, tertiaries. . é

are several modifications for special pur-
poses ; filoplumes, with slender axis and rudimental barbs, are often merely for ornament,
while the hair-like vibrissee, which have no barbs at all, line the mouths of many insect-
eating birds, and the eyelids of many birds of prey, toucans, and ostriches. “Some
plumes have the barb-tips breaking off as dust (powder-down), and these may be scat-
tered (and transitory, as in the lemmergeier), or dorsal, or on each side of the spinal
tract (some kites) ; or post-femoral and inguinal (herons, Leptosoma, tinamous).” We
may also mention the so-called semiplumes, feathers intermediate between contour
feathers and down, and occupying the edges of the feather-tracts; in the hoatzin the
apteria are nearly filled with them, and Garrod asks why they may not be regarded as
degenerated feathers; they are usually concealed by the contour feathers, but long
semiplumes are found in some forms, as, for instance, the ornamental feathers in the
Marabou stork (Leptoptilos dubius).

Feathers, generally, do not, like hairs, continue to grow indefinitely. Where
they have attained their full size, the vascular papilla enclosed in the quill dries up,
forming the ‘pith’ and from that moment no further growth, nor any renewing of
tissue, takes place in the feather. Therefore, as soon as the feathers are worn out, they
are thrown off, shed, and replaced by an outgrowth of new ones. This process, which
we call molting, presents some variations and modifications in the different groups of
birds, but may, as a rule, be said to take place annually after the breeding season, with
its wear and tear to the feathers, is over. During this general molt, all the feathers,
including wing and tail feathers, are shed gradually, and equally, on both sides of the
median line of the body; the feather of one wing is thrown off simultaneously with
the corresponding one of the other, and the same relation takes place in the molt of
the feathers in each half of the tail. It is the exception, when ducks and some other
birds lose all the wing feathers at once, thus being deprived of the power of flight for
a short time. While wing and tail feathers are only molted once a year, a partial
molt of the smaller feathers often takes place early in spring, at which time also
most of the ornamental feathers, borne only a short time, make their appearance.
This renewal of a part of the plumage is generally very rapid, and the time between
the autumnal total molt and the partial one in spring, as a rule, perhaps, shorter than
between the spring and the autumn changes, sometimes being often a brief period of

INTRODUCTION. 5

a few weeks, as in the eiders (Somateriw), but we have, on the other hand, examples
of the reverse, as in the ptarmigans (Lagopus), some of which, at least, show the
peculiarity of a permanent molt during the whole summer. Many birds retain the
first plumage during the first winter of their life, while others change it a short time
after they have put it on; and in some —for instance, in the grouse family —even the
wing-feathers are shed before the first winter sets in. Very frequently the new plu-
mage has a color quite different from the one which was thrown off, and particularly
where two molts occur, the seasonal change in the color of many birds is thus
accounted for. But there are a whole category of cases in which a radical change in
the coloration according to season is effected without the feathers being molted. In
many birds, notably among the Passeres, the feathers of the new autumnal plumage
will be seen to be parti-colored, the centre being of a hue different from that of the
edge. Let us examine the fall plumage, for instance, of the adult common snow-
bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis). The general color is white, the back, however,
spotted with black, and parts of the plumage, especially the head, suffused with
brownish; looking closer at the individual feathers, we find that those on the back are
really black, with broad white margins, while the white feathers of the head are tipped
with brownish. These edges and borders become very brittle towards the approach
of next year’s breeding season; they fall off, leaving the black feather-centres of the
back and the pure white part of the other feathers exposed, so that the bird next sum-
mer appears white, with black back. It is a similar process which changes the appear-
ance of the bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), besides that of numerous other birds,
so radically.

Changes in color may also take place between the molts and independent of the
edge-shedding. In most birds the color of the plumage changes notably towards the
end of the breeding season: wing-feathers which formerly were black become light
brownish or grayish, vivid colors become dull, and a general fading seems to take
place, caused by the wear and tear, rubbing, direct influence of the atmospliere, of
rain, and of sunshine, or, as we are accustomed to eall it, by abrasion. But the colors
may also be intensified, or even radically changed, by abrasion, provided the super-
ficial layers which rub off are of such a nature as to conceal or obscure the deeper
and differently colored strata. We may mention the common red-poll (Acanthis
linaria) as an example. It is but fair to confess, however, that our knowledge of the
change of color in the individual feather, after having finished its growth, is still very
defective, and that we have to look toward future investigations for answers to many
aquestion. The same remark applies to our knowledge of the pigments in feathers
which produce the colors. A coloring matter which is called zoomelanin, and
thought to be identical with coriosulphurine, seems to produce all the black and dark
hues in birds, while some green colors are due to an admixture of a yellowish pigment
called psittacofulvine. A really green pigment has only been found in the touracos,
—hence the name turacoverdin, —and no blue or violet pigment has yet been dis-
covered, while red (zooerythrine) is quite common. Another red, turacin, causes
the magnificent red on the wings of the Musophagide. There is no white pigment,
but wherever that color occurs it is due to the countless number of interstices between
the molecules of the feather, the substance of the latter being colorless. Many tints —
for example, blue, violet, and certain greens —are not due to the pigment, which is
black-brown to yellow, but the blue results from a particular surface-structure of the
feathers, so that it must disappear if the color-producing parts be destroyed. Thus, if

6 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

we hammer carefully the deep blue feathers of a macaw, the blue color immediately dis-
appears, and the injured part looks gray or brownish, according to the underlying pig-
ment. Some green parrot feathers, when treated in a similar way, become yellow,
since this is the color of their pigment. Here we have the explanation of the dark
appearance of the abraded parts of feathers of parrots and other brightly colored
birds.

The gloss of feathers, independent of the color itself, is the result of their surface
being smooth and polished, while the metallic lustre is due to a transparent sheath
which acts like a prism, a fact ascertained by Mr. Gadow. The theory of the metallic
lustre being due to structure of a prismatic nature originated, however, with Professor
B. Altum.

We mentioned above that the seasonal shedding of feathers or of their edges
usually causes a change in the color of the plumage. In some birds we distinguish
summer and winter plumages, in others nuptial and post-nuptial garbs, and in some
ptarmigan may be observed even four more or less distinct attires nearly corresponding
to the four seasons.

There are also some interesting relations connected with the similarity and dissimi-
larity in color between the two sexes, and between the adults and the young. Though
it might seem to be the original arrangement, or perhaps just, therefore, young birds
and the adults of both sexes and at all seasons are comparatively seldom quite alike.
The Procellaridie, or petrels, may be quoted as an example, besides several others. If
the adults of both sexes, for some reason or another, have developed alike seasonal
colors, the first plumage of the young is very often like that which the parents assume
about the same time, —that is to say, their post-nuptial or winter dress. In such a
case the young birds undergo a change in the spring similar to that of the old ones;
many of the auks (Alcide) demonstrate this rule. Whenever one of the adults, no
matter what sex, is more richly colored than its mate, the young usually resemble the
more plainly colored of the parents; this rule is followed by a great many, perhaps
the majority of birds, but exceptions and many modifications occur. We are, how-
eyer, justified in making this generalization, that species in which both parents differ
materially from the plumage of the young are still more specialized as to color than
the foregoing categories; for we may without hesitation take for granted that the
plumage of the young is the more generalized, and that the amount of specialization
is in proportion to the departure from the first garb. It follows that we have to go to
the birds in the later plumage, or in that more like it, whenever we wish to ascertain
the relationship of different forms. It will, therefore, be necessary to arrange the
species according to the characters furnished by the young, or plain-colored females,
and not by the secondary, often highly specialized, structure of the males, if we aim
at a natural classification based upon affinities. It will seem as if there may be a
possibility of finding out the relation between the different classes of plumages, so
that-it might be deduced whether one kind of plumage in a given case — for instance,
a barred or spotted one —is a more specialized condition than another, say a striped or
plain dress; but no investigations, covering a sufficient number of species of all orders
and from all parts of the world, have been made as yet, without which all generaliza-
tions and speculations are premature and next to valueless.

Finally, we have to consider a color problem which has only come forward of late,
and which still awaits its solution. There has been invented a name for the phenom-
enon, and we are accustomed to call it dichromatism, but of its true nature and its

INTRODUCTION. 7

significance in the animal economy we are quite ignorant. By this term we designate
the peculiarity in certain species of birds, that individuals present two different styles
of coloration, or ‘ phases, presumably more or less independent of geographical dis-
tribution, present or past, or, in fact, of any apparent cause whatsoever. The difliculty
in finding a plausible theory is much increased by the circumstance that there are
nearly as many kinds of dichromatism as there are dichromatice species. We shall
mention a few examples. It has been known that the so-called Richardson’s jeger
(Stercorarius parasiticus) appears in two different styles, one uniformly sooty all
over, the other with the whole under side white. At one time they were regarded as
different species, while some observers thought that the difference was a sexual one;
but it isnow demonstrated beyond doubt that the white and the dark bird are only
individual phases of the same species, irrespective of sex or locality. It is interesting
to remark that the closely allied species S. Jongicaudus has only one, the light phase.
The relation between the common and the spectacled murre ( Uria troile and ringvia)
seems to be somewhat similar, the latter having a white ring round the eye and a post-
ocular stripe which is wanting in the former, a strong argument being the relative
paucity of the spectacled form, in connection with the fact that it does not occur in
any locality where the plain-colored one is not found. A more striking and also more
puzzling example of dichromatism is exhibited by several members of the heron
family, a question which has been particularly studied by Mr. R. Ridgway. Already
Peale’s egret and Wiirdeman’s heron have disappeared, as separate species, from the
lists of North American birds. It is regarded as proven that the former is only a
white phase of the reddish egret (Dichromanassa rufa, the generic name of which
has been given according to this view) ; for, according to Ridgway, in Florida, where
they breed abundantly, both forms have been found in the same nest, attended by
parents either both reddish, both white, or one in each of these stages of plumage,
other circumstances at the same time leading to the conclusion that the two phases
are not only not specifically distinct, but that they have nothing to do with either sex,
age, or season. In the little blue heron (/lorida ccerulea) the facts are still more con-
vincing; for here the white phase is seldom, if ever, perfectly developed in the adults,
while intermediate specimens are mach more numerous. The question is considerably
more complicated when we come to the great white and the great blue herons of this
country. We shall state the facts briefly, first giving a clue to the different forms,
which may be distinguished thus: —

( Ardea occidentalis, white all over.

Ardea wiirdemanni, parti-colored; occiput and plumes white.
Ardea wardi, )

Legs black; size smaller, Ardea herodias, §

Legs olive; size larger,

parti-colored; occipital streak and plumes black.

No white phase of Aerodias is as yet known, which seems rather strange when we
consider that Ardea wardi, which is almost an exact counterpart of A. herodias,
except in the coloration of the legs and the size, is matched so absolutely by A. ocei-
dentalis, as far as structure is concerned, that the two could not possibly be told apart
if the colored bird be bleached so as to become pure white. The same may be said of
A. witrdemanni, and we might be led to suppose a kind of trichromatism, the white
occidentalis with two different colored phases, were it not for the fact that the type
specimen of A. witrdemanni is still unique, and therefore most probably nothing more
than an individual variety, or an adolescent bird not having yet lost the last traces of

8 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the young plumage. Candor compels us to state, however, that the evidence for the
white and the colored birds being only phases is yet insufficient, the more so as geo-
graphical distribution seems to have something to do with the matter, for it is stated
that, in Florida, the white birds are confined mainly to the Atlantic coast, while the
colored ones chiefly inhabit the Gulf side. The example from the herons can be
nearly duplicated by the status of some forms of fulmars from the northern Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, although in this case the geographical distribution seems to be a
moment of still greater importance, for I think I have proved that, in both oceans, the
dark phases are predominant to the westward. We have other examples of dichroma-
tism in the same group as the dark and the white form of Ossifraga gigantea ; and
Mr. Ridgway’s suggestion, that it will be found more extensively all through the super-
family of the Tubinares or Procellaroide, is well worth consideration. Diclroma-
tism among the owls, or erythrochroism, as it is here called, because of rufous being
the color producing one of the phases, is not uncommon, but seems to be still more
influenced by the geographical distribution, at least in our little sereech owl (Mega-
scops asio), which, in the Mississippi Valley, has more rufous than gray individuals, in
the Atlantic states both phases nearly equally represented, while west of and inelud-
ing the Rocky Mountains, only gray birds occur. Want of space compels us to pass
in silence many more examples, for instance, the white and the blue-winged snow-
geese, the dark and light-colored phases of many hawks (uteones), but we cannot dis-
miss this matter without having mentioned that most perplexing question to American
ornithologists: What are the relations of the two forms of flickers (Colaptes) and
their numerous intermediate individuals? The two flickers are mainly characterized
by the color of the under surface of the wing and tail feathers, these being red in the
red-shafted ( Colaptes mexicanus), gamboge yellow in the yellow-shafted flicker (C. aw-
yatus), in addition to which the latter has a red nuchal crescent; besides, the males
are distinguished by having a malar stripe, which is red in the red-shafted species, but
black in the other; the former is chiefly a western bird, the latter inhabits the east and
the north. Hardly two species could look more distinct than the typical specimens of
these remarkable birds; but the characters are mixed in every possible degree in the
individuals inhabiting the region intermediate between the two, to such an extent as
to be completely without parallel among birds. They were generally declared to he
hybrids until intermediate specimens were found in localities — for example, Florida —
where only one of the typical species occur, and, consequently, hybridity is an impos-
sibility. Are they incipient species? are they local varieties? or what? As there are
no structural characters involved, the question is merely one of color; why then not
seek refuge in ‘dichromatism’ or rather ‘ trichromatism,’ affected by geographical dis-
tribution, it is true, but not in the usual way, as there are geographical sub-species of
the common kind besides. We shall not attempt a solution here, but would like to
put the question thus: Why may not the birds with red crescent and red moustache
(this probably being the most numerous form of the so-called ‘hybridus’), be the
original stock, which, westward, became modified into mexicanus, eastward into
auratus, the isolated individuals, with mixed characters, being due to atavism, or occa-
sional outbreak of the characters of the original stock, while a great many of the
mixed individuals from the intermediate region might be regarded as products of
hybridization? In other words, why not a trichromatism on the verge of forming
three different species, or two if—as would be expected — the original (intermediate)
stock died out at last? A point which seems to strengthen such a view is the fact

INTRODUCTION. . 9

that there exists another yellow-shafted species with red mystacal stripe and red nuchal
crescent, viz., Colaptes chrysoides. Tf this theory be correct, we would have a clew to
another class of dichromatic species, viz., those which now are stereotyped into two
invariable forms or species, separated geographically, but still identical in structure.
We shall only mention an example recently brought forward by Mr. Ridgway, that of
the scarlet and the white ibises (Guara rubra and alba), of which he very character-
istically remarks that they are now so different in color that probably nobody would
deny their specific distinction, though structurally so alike that a specimen of the
white one dyed scarlet would be indistinguishable from G. rubra. The question which
finally impresses itself upon the inquirer, in view of the above facts, is this: Are not
the two or three ‘phases’ of dichromatie or trichromatic species ‘incipient species,’
the final fate of which will be that of the white and the scarlet ibises?

We have enlarged considerably upon this subject, because it is one of the most
perplexing, and, consequently, most interesting questions in modern ornithology. It
shows what we know, and particularly what we do not know; it shows that ornithology
means more than a mere description and naming of birds, that one of its aims is to con-
tribute to the solution of the great problem of the age: “The origin of species.”

Besides feathers, we recognize in birds other epidermal appendages, as the horny
sheaths of the beak, the teeth in some extinct forms, the scaly covering of the feet, spurs,
and nails. Most of these different structures will be more advantageously treated of in
other connections, and under the head of such groups in which they may be of special
interest, although we wish here to call attention to the fact that parts of the horny
beak and the nails of the toes may be shed in a way analogous to that of the molt
of the feathers, referring, as we do, to the deciduous nature of the basal parts of the
bill in several members of the auk family (puffins and dwarf-auks), to the ‘ centre-
board’ of the white pelican’s bill, and to the seasonal claw-molt in the grouse-family,
particularly the ptarmigans. The most primitive form of the horny covering of the
feet seems to be its division into uniform hexagonal scales, and is called reticulate ; the
next stage is when some of these scales fuse together, forming what is termed scuta,
or seutella, which particularly cover the anterior part of the tarsus and the upper sur-
face of the toes; still further specialization is indicated by the tarsal scuta fusing into
a continuous covering which, in its extreme development, embraces both the front and
the back of the tarsus, as in some of the higher group of passerine birds; such a
tarsus is said to be ‘ booted.’

It has already been remarked that the skin has no sudoriferous glands nor sebaceous
follicles; but we cannot dismiss the dermal system before having mentioned the bilobed
oil-gland placed at the base of the tail-feathers on the ‘ pope’s nose,’ and seldom miss-
ing, as it is in the ostriches and some few other birds. When ‘preening’ their
feathers, birds press the fatty substance out of this oil-box with their beaks, and by
passing each feather between the mandibles, anoint the whole plumage in order to
keep it in repair and protect it against getting wet, as particularly noticeable in water
birds.

Turning now to the other structural systems of the bird’s body, it is not our inten-
tion to enlarge upon or even mention such general features as are regularly found in
the text-books, only those being deemed worth our attention, in the present connection,
which are of particular importance for an intelligent understanding of modern orni-
thological classification, or questions which at present are most oceupying the lovers
of our beautiful science.

10 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The different bones of the head anchylose very early, it being a distinctive char-
acter of all living birds to possess a continuous skull-case without sutures; but it must
be borne in mind that we know of an extinct group of birds, the Gastornithes, in

Fic. 2.— Under view of the skull of
the emu (Dromeognathous); bptp,
basipterygoid process of the sphe-
noid; mrp, maxillo-palatine; p/,
palatine; pmax, premaxill
pterygoid; vo, vomer; J?, basisphe-
noidal rostrum.

which the sutures were permanent. Notwithstanding a
general uniformity in the bird cranium, certain variations
of the osteological structure, particularly of the palate
and the base of the skull, have of late obtained a great
prominence as systematic characters by the investigations
of Professor Huxley, and his famous classification of the
birds based upon them. Although not prepared to attach
so great an importance to these features as las been at-
tributed to them by many ornithologists, we will have
to pay special attention to them, as in many cases they
play a réle in the ornithological classification similar to
that of the teeth in mammals.

Professor Huxley distinguished four different types of
the palate, which he has called drom@ognathous, schizo-
gnathous, desmognathous, and wegithognathous, and Pro-
fessor Parker has separated a fifth type, which he styles
saurognathous. Referring for explanation to the accom-
panying cuts, which will give the desired information
much easier than the best description, we abstain from
any detailed account, only calling attention in a few
words to the most salient features. Fig. 2 represents
the dromeognathous structure of the palate, as found
in the emu and, with some modifications, in the other
ostriches and the tinamous. In

these, to use Huxley’s own words, “the posterior ends of the
palatines (p/) and the anterior ends of the pterygoids (pt) are
very imperfectly, or not at all, articulated with the basi-sphe-
noidal rostrum (22), being usually separated from it, and sup-
ported, by the broad, cleft, hinder end of the vomer” (vo). The
rest of the birds, consequently, have the palatine and pterygoid
bones articulating with the sphenoidal rostrum, and not borne
up by the posterior ends of the vomer. The arrangement illus-
trated by Fig. 3 is the one called desmognathous, since the
maxillo-palatines (map) are united medially in the palate (des-
mos, 1 bond), the vomer, at the same time being rudimentary,
or quite absent, as, for instance, in ducks, flamingos, herons, cor-
morants, pelicans, birds of prey, parrots, cuckoos, ete. Fig. +
shows a palate quite different. Here is a cleft between the
maxillo-palatines (map), and another between them and the
vomer (vo), hence the name schizognathous (schizo, I cleave) ;
but, in addition to this, the character of the vomer, being
pointed in front, is essential, since by this mark the true schizo-
gnathous birds, — for instance, the penguins, auks, gulls, snipes,

Fig. 3.— Under view of the
skull of a cormorant (Des-
mognathous). The letters
as before.

fowls, grouse, pigeons, etc., — are separated from another great group of birds, which
have the palate “wgithognathous, or sparrow-like, for in these, as exemplified by

INTRODUCTION.

11

Fig. 5, we also find the maxillo-palatines (map) separate medially and from the yomer
(vo), but the latter is truncate in front and cleft behind, embracing the basisphenoid

rostrum (/?) between its forks. Finally, the saurognathous pal-
ate, which is peculiar to the super-family Picoides, is particu-
larly remarkable for having the two lateral halves of the vomer
separate.

It may be well, however, to state that these characters are
by no means always very trenchant, as two types often inter-
grade insensibly, while in other cases we find them sharply ex-
pressed in nearly related forms, as an example of which we
shall only mention the closely allied genera Megalaima and Tet-
ragonops, besides several of the birds of prey.

The anterior nostrils are situated at the base of the beak
(except in some Struthious birds, for example, Apteryx, in
which they open near its tip), and may have a well-defined and
rounded hinder edge, a condition called holorhinal by Pro-
fessor Garrod, or be prolonged backwards as a fissure, when the
term schizorhinal is used. A peculiar feature of the bird’s
beak is the flexibility of its union to the frontals by the long
nasals and frontal processes of the premaxillew; this is carried
to an extreme in the parrots, in which the connection between
the beak and the forehead is formed by a moyable joint. The

Fic. 4. — Under view of the
skull of the capercallie
(schizognathous). The
letters as before.

two halves of the lower jaw anchylose early, except in some fossil forms, and the sym-

physis (and consequently the gonys) is of very varying length.

None of the recent

birds have teeth in their jaws, and this negative character was a long time regarded as
distinctive of the class, as compared with the great ma-

jority of reptiles and mammals.

Rudimentary teeth

have lately been demonstrated in the grooves of the
lower jaw of the embryonic penguin. It is also claimed

Fia. 5.— Under view of the skull of a
Sparrow (egithognathous). The
letters as before.

that rudiments of teeth, in sockets and covered by den-
tine, have been found in embryos of parrots. Late in-
vestigations have failed to discover the dentine. Besides,
important groups of fossil birds have of late been dis-
covered, which were more or less richly supplied with
teeth; as, for instance, Archwopteryx, Laopteryx, Gas-
tornis, Argillornis, Hesperornis, Ichthyornis ; the last
had teeth in sockets, while those of //esperornis were
fixed in grooves, and were shed in a similar way to those
of the reptiles.

The “saddle-shaped” vertebra is peculiar to the bird
class, that is to say, the’ vast majority of living birds have
the antesacral vertebre saddle-shaped, a form not seen
elsewhere; but opisthoccelian vertebra may occasionally

occur, being even the rule among the penguins, while biconcave or amphiceelian verte-
br, such as we find in fishes and many batrachians and reptiles, particularly fossil forms,
are one of the most remarkable features of the extinet Archwopteryx, Ichthyornis, Apa-
tornis, and, probably, Zaopteryx. The number of cervical vertebra varies between nine
and twenty-five, those of the dorsal region between four and eleven, or, exceptionally,

iby NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

only three; the latter are firmly anchylosed with the lumbo-sacral vertebrae, except in
the penguins. Caudal vertebra occur in numbers from seven to fifteen (21 ?), the largest
number being found in the sub-class Saurure, embracing the Jurassic Archwopteryzx.
Next in number comes //esperornis, from the cretaceous formation, with twelve, while
most of the living birds have from seven to ten. In Archwopteryx they were all free,
each supporting a pair of tail feathers; in ZZesperornis the last ones were anchylosed, and
there is reason to believe that it had no rectrices at all; in other birds, the last ones,
which are still separate in the embryo, become fused completely together in the adults,
so as to form a single bone, which, from its peculiar shape, has been called the
‘ploughshare bone, or the pygostyle; it supports the oil-glands, and, indirectly, the
rectrices, which, on account of the shortening of the tail, have been forced out to the
extreme end of the vertebral column. It has been suggested that the number of
rectrices correspond with the number of caudal vertebrae, including those forming the
pygostyle.

The breast-bone is generally provided with a keel, which, however, becomes greatly
reduced or is wanting altogether in those forms in which the fore limbs have ceased to
act as locomotive organs (wings or paddles), as, for instance the ostriches, kiwis, Z/es-
perornis, Notornis, the dodo, Cnemiornis, and the large ground-parrot or kakapo
(Strigops) from New Zealand. It must be remembered that a sternal (episternal) keel
is not an entirely unknown thing among the reptiles. Sternal ribs are connected with
the foremost dorsal ribs by hinge joints ; the ribs are provided with uncinate processes ;
these are wanting in the fossil Archwopteryx and in Chauna among living birds, but
are, on the other hand, found in some reptiles, for example, in /Zatteria and in the
crocodiles.

The shoulder girdle consists of a long, narrow, and curved scapula, a form which
among the reptiles is found in the pterodactyls ; while, on the other hand, the shoulder
bone is quite flattened and broadened behind in the penguins. The collar-bones
usually unite into a ‘wish-bone,’ or ‘merrythought’ (fwreuwn). They are sep-
arate in a few forms, as inthe emu and some owls, while they are altogether absent in
the ostrich, the kiwis, a fe parrots, ete. The arm-bones offer but little for remark.
We may refer to the arrangement of the elbow-joint, which is so constructed as to
allow movement in one plane for extension and flexion only, but not for supination
and pronation; the same remark applies to the carpal joint; both joints are stiff and
nearly immovable in the penguins. Birds have, when adults, usually two carpal
bones, one ulnar and one radial (as have also the crocodiles), but a few deprived
of the power of flight — for instance, the cassowary and the kiwi— have only a single
carpal. It is interesting to note that this was also the condition in Archwopteryx. The
metacarpals are usually three in number and more or less fused together, that of the
first finger, or pollex, generally being indicated by a process at the proximal end of the
second metatarsal. Archwopteryx differs remarkably by having all three metacarpals
free and well developed. The carpus is sometimes provided on the anterior side with
an accessory bone supporting a thick, horny spur, as in the screamer, the spurwinged
goose, and others, which should not be confounded with the claws at the end of the
fingers, a mistake not at all uncommon.

Corresponding to the three metacarpals, the number of the fingers is also three, a
free pollex being absent in the penguins and cassowaries, however. Judging from the
number of phalanges in the three fingers left, —the radial one usually having one, the
middle finger three or two, and the ulnar finger sometimes three, but oftener two or

INTRODUCTION. 13

one, —the fingers which are lost are the fourth and fifth. When two-jointed, the
pollex, or first finger, usually carries a pointed claw, and so may also the second one,
if three-jointed. The third finger only supports a claw in Archwopteryx (three-
jointed). A reduction in the number of phalanges is noticeable as correlated with
specialization in other directions, hence being found commonly among the so-called
‘higher’ birds.

When the wings are closed, the bones are usually folded up in such a way that the
hand forms a sharp angle with and underneath the forearm, so that the tips of the
fingers point backward; this is not the case with the Struthionine birds, in which
the hand is directed forward. In the penguins the joints are nearly inflexible, and
the hand is directed downward nearly in the prolongation of the axis of the forearm.

Reserving the account of the different structures of the pelvis to the remarks
heading those groups in which it is of special interest, we would here only call atten-
tion to Professor Marsh’s discovery of the separate condition of the pelvic elements in
Archwopteryx, in contradistinction to other birds in which they are anchylosed
together in the adult state, and to the loose way in which the pelvic bones are fixed
to the vertebral column in the penguins.

In all birds the thigh bone is shorter than the tibia, a relation nearly unknown
among the reptiles; the same proportion is found, however, in the very bird-like, but
still indisputably Dinosaurian reptile, Composognathus, from the Jurassic formation,
and in the Pterodactyls. The femoro-caudal muscle, which, for example, produces
the curious sideways movement of the duck’s tail, is in some birds inserted upon a tro-
chanter of the femur, which, according to Professor Dollo, is the homologue of the
third, or, as he proposes to call it, the fourth trochanter of the Zyuanodon. The tibia
is sometimes provided with a large cnemial process in front of the knee, as in the loons
and grebes and the extinct Zesperornis and Cnemiornis ; the fibula is usually more
or less rudimentary ; as a peculiarity of that part in Archwopteryx may be mentioned
that its distal end was placed in front of the tibia, as in Zguwanodon, a position un-
known in other birds. The part following is the tarsus, but the collection of small
bones designated by that term do not appear in the adult bird, for one of them, at least,
—viz., the astragalus, —anchyloses early to the lower end of the tibia, while the others,
in the same manner, are fused together with the metatarsals. The joint between the
leg and the foot, therefore, is no true ankle-joint, but mesotarsal (inter-tarsal) articu-
lation. This is a reptilian feature, and the recognition of the true nature of this joint
is of considerable importance. It should also be borne in mind that the bone which
in topographical ornithology is termed ‘tarsus’ consists chiefly of the three meta-
tarsals fused together, and should consequently be styled metatarsus. In the embry-
onic bird these three elements are separate, and in the penguins they remain distinct,
as only the ends grow together. The condition of the metatarsus in Archwopteryx
may have been similar, judging from the two deep grooves on the anterior surface of
it. The metatarsal of the first toe (hallux) is very small, and usually free. The toes
are in the great majority four; viz., the first, second, third, and fourth, the fifth being
always absent both in recent and in fossil birds. The first is often wanting, but in many
cases where it is not seen outside the skin it may be found underneath it. The
second is rudimentary in a few genera of kingfishers, and the fourth in Cholornis.
Rarely the number of toes is reduced to two (the ostrich), the first and second being
atrophied. The normal number of phalanges are two, three, four, and five in the first,
second, third, and fourth toe respectively, and the inner phalanx is the longer one, the

14 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

ratio of the others decreasing gradually toward the ends. By progressive specializa-
tion the number of phalanges is often reduced, e.g., in some swifts which have only
two, three, three, and three phalanges respectively, and the proportion of their length
modified.

Concerning the muscles of birds, we should like to enlarge upon the mechanism
moving the wings, and that wonderful arrangement by which the toes of the perching
bird are automatically kept in a grasping position by means of the bird’s own weight
alone; but want of space permits us only to mention and explain a few technical terms
and signs which will be found useful further on. The late Professor Garrod used the
letters A, B, X, and Y to represent certain muscles of the thighs which he considered
to be of particular taxonomic value, viz., respectively, the femoro-caudal, the accessory
femoro-caudal, the semi-tendinosus, and the accessory semi-tendinosus; thus, saying
that the muscular formula of the secretary bird is BXY means that the three latter
are present. The formula A in the falcon means that none but the first-mentioned is
to be found.

Besides the above, two other muscles belong to the femoral region of birds, the
account of which we shall give as nearly as possible in the late Professor Forbes’s words,
viz., the gluteus primus and the ambiens. The former is, as a rule, not small, and is only
seldom absent, e.g., in the Bucerotide and Palamedeidee ; the latter, the ambiens, lies
on the lower or inner surface of the thigh. As generally developed, it is a more or
less slender fusiform muscle, which, arising from the preepubie process of the pelvis,
close in front of the acetabulum, runs along the inner side of the thigh superficially, and
then, as a thin tendon, over the bend of the knee —in some cases perforating the
patella — to the outer side of the leg, terminating there by joining one of the tendons
of the superficial flexor of the toes. In all passerine birds, and some others, it is
always absent; these are termed anomalogonatous birds, in contradistinction to the
more generalized types which are homologonatous, and we denote the presence or
absence of the ambiens muscle by the signs -+- or —.

In all birds there are two deep flexor muscles of the toes, the tendons of which
run along the posterior (plantar) aspect of the metatarsus, one the deep flexor of the
first toe (f. longus hallucis), the other closing the remainder of the toes, /lewor per-
forans digitorum, the former being always external to, or superficial of, the latter
when passing the metatarse. In all Passeres and a few other birds, e.g. Upupa, these
tendons are quite independent of each other, so that if the flexor of the first toe be
artificially pulled, no closing (flexion) of the other ones takes place. In all other birds,
however, the two tendons are more or less intimately connected by a fibrous band
(vinculum), or may even completely blend.

By far the most interesting feature, however, brought out by Prof. Garrod’s inves-
tigations into this subject is the discovery of the existence of the entirely different
types of plantar arrangement in the so-called zygodactyle birds (with usually two toes
in front and two turned backward), as well as the fact that the diversity of type
exactly coincides with the two groups of birds so marked out, being respectively homolo-
and anomalo-gonatous. Thus in the parrots, cuckoos, and Musophagide, which all
belong to the former group, the plantar tendons are distributed in exactly the same
way as in the common fowl, the flexor perforans supplying second, third, and fourth
digits, and the f. Aallucis the first digit alone. In all the anomalogonatous zygodac-
tyle birds (all of which lack the a@mbiens and accessory femoro-caudal muscles) namely
the Picidw, Capitonide, and their allies, Buceonide and Galbulide, an entirely unique

INTRODUCTION. 15

arrangement is found; for in those birds the /. hallucis splits up into three parts, sup-
plying the second, third, and fourth digits as well as the first one (hallux), whilst the
J. perforans is distributed to the third digit alone.

Another set of interesting muscles are those belonging to the organ of yoice, in
connection with which they will be considered.

It would take us too much space, should we account for all the various modifications
of the digestive system, especially because we do not yet understand its development
nor the taxonomic value of the modifications; we do not know what is essential, what
accessory, What original, and what derivative. For not only do we find extreme differ-
ences in the structure of the intestines between very closely allied forms in cases where
the disagreement can be accounted for by the difference in the diet, —as in the sage-
cock (Centrocercus wrophasianus), with its thin-walled stomach, in contradistinetion
to the structure of the same organ in the other members of the family, as first pointed
out by Mr. Ridgway, — but radical structural differences obtains often in two closely
allied species, the habits and food of which are not known to differ at all. A striking
example is the structure of the stomachs of the American and the African anhingas
(Plotus anhinga and levaillantii), as demonstrated by Prof. Garrod. In the former,
the proventriculus, instead of forming a zone or path, is developed into a special sac-
like diverticulum, which projects from the gizzard externally in a way quite unlike
that of any other bird. Moreover, the pyloric compartment develops a covering of
hairs, a peculiarity only found in one other bird, viz., the turkey buzzard, and Prof.
Forbes remarked that “this very extraordinary stomach is certainly, as far as yet
[1881] known, unique amongst birds.” The African species has a stomach consider-
ably different from that described above, as the proventriculus forms no gland-pouch,
but simply two separate patches. A well-developed and hair-clad pyloric compart-
ment is present, as in the former, but “the hairy epithelium surrounding the pyloric
orifice is produced into a considerable conical, hair-covered process, projecting into the
second stomach, and evidently acting as a valve to close the pylorus when necessary.”

Similar differences occur also among the pigeons, of which the genus Ptilopus has
the gizzard provided with “ four crushing-pads, instead of two, as in all other birds,
including even Zreron.” Of the genus Carpophaga, two species, latrans and goliath,
have the epithelial lining of the gizzard developed into a number of bony conical
processes, like the spines of certain sea-urchins, while no other species of the genus
are known to show any trace of such a structure.

The birds are the first class of existing vertebrates with a complete double cireu-
lation, a four-chambered heart, with two entirely separate halves, and a blood of a
temperature considerably higher than that of the surrounding atmosphere, ranging as
it does from 100 to 112° Fahr. We say “ existing vertebrates,” for there seems to be
reason to suppose that the Pterosaurians, the remarkable extinct group of flying
reptiles, also had hot blood, and we said “considerably higher than that of the sur-
rounding atmosphere,” because there are well-known examples of fishes and reptiles,
the temperature of which is higher than the medium they live in, though not to such
a degree as in birds and mammals. Only a single permanent aortic trunk carries the
blood from the heart, not two as in reptiles; but contrary to what takes place in mam-
mals it is the right aortic arch which remains. Of special interest is the arrangement
of the carotids, which carry the arterial blood to the head and neck, since their
arrangement is widely different in different birds. Without going into detail we may
say that the chief difference consists in the absence or presence of the right carotid.

16 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The comparatively smaller number of birds possess the original arrangement of two
distinct carotids, one right and one left, since in all the Passeres and a number of
other groups the left only is preserved, which, however, branches off before reaching
the head, thus performing the duty of both carotids. “So radical this difference may
seem at first sight, so unreliable are the characters furnished by it as indicating relation-
ship, that it is altogether out of the question to use it as a means of primary division.
For, while it is true that all Passeres—that is to say, all that have been examined,
and many are still to be investigated — have only the more specialized arrangement
indicated by the presence of the left carotid only, we find in other groups nearly
related forms, with one or two carotids, as, for instance, among the auks, the parrots,
and the herons. In nearly all birds the crural artery is derived from the sciatic,
and the chief vein of the legs, the femoral; and only in a few passerine forms, the
Pipras and the Cotingas, is the artery of the thigh formed by the femoral artery.
During incubation the vessels of the abdominal wall dilate enormously, forming the
so-called brood-organ. The blood corpuscles of birds are, on the average, of a size
twice those of man, and the shape of the red ones is oblong as are those of reptiles,
while in most mammals they are round.

Very characteristic, though not absolutely peculiar to birds, as we have seen above,
is their pneumacity, several of their bones being hollow, and connected by openings
with air-sacs, which again communicate with the lungs; by this, air is distributed all
through the body, even to the interior of the bones. The enormous importance of
this feature to creatures destined to inhabit the air will be readily understood when
we learn that a bird with a specific gravity of 1.80 may have this reduced to only 1.05
by pumping itself full of air. The lungs themselves are two rather large sacs wedged
in around the vertebrae and the heads of ribs, not free, nor enclosed in a pleura, as in
mammals. The voice of birds is generally thought not to be formed in the larynx, as
it is in mammals, but in a separate, and to the class quite peculiar, “ lower larynx,” the
so-called syrinx, usually situated at the lower end of the trachea, or between it and
the bronchi, though the correctness of this view concerning the formation of the
voice has been recently seriously questioned. The syrinx consists of a modification of
the cartilaginous and coalescent rings, forming a tympanic chamber, in the middle of
which occurs a vertical membranous fold, the free edge of which is called the semilunar
membrane, while on each side is attached another free-edged membrane; the voice is
formed by the air causing these membranes to vibrate when forced out through the
slits between the central and the lateral membranes. Intrinsic muscles run from the
trachea to the bronchial rings, and are supposed to serve in varying the tension of the
membrane. The peculiar arrangement of these muscles, and their importance to
systematic ornithology, will be more fully treated of under the introduction to the
order Passeres. The syrinx is not absent in any known bird, though somewhat rudi-
mentary in some Struthious birds, and still more so in some of the Cathartide.

The anatomical investigations of later years have added very little to our knowledge
of the neural system of birds and of the organs of sense, having been directed mostly
to those features which seemed to promise greater results in the study of the affinities,
the morphological development, and the systematic arrangement, thus leaving nothing
of general interest to be added to what is contained in the ordinary text-books.

There is another question which is just now occupying the studies and thoughts
of ornithologists, and which therefore cannot be passed by in the present work, namely
the question of the migration of birds.

INTRODUCTION. 17

Taking it for granted that all our readers know what is understood by the migration
of birds, —the regular travel towards the north in spring, and the regular return in
fall towards the south, of certain birds, —and also what is understood by the term a
permanent resident, we will at once remark that there is no fundamental difference
between the categories, since perhaps the greater part of the permanent residents
travel about more or less extensively during the cold season, and the range of migra-
tion of many so-called migrating species is very limited, while not a few are residents
in one country, though migrating in other localities, as for instance, the meadow lark,
the purple grackle, the bluebird, etc. A moment’s reflection will therefore conyince us
that the migrating state has developed in originally sedentary birds.

The next thing to take into consideration is the fact that it is not the cold that
drives the migratory birds away in fall, since other birds equally equipped stand the
climate very well, and remain in the country the migrants left; the only reason why
the latter go is because they are in some way or another deprived of the special food
upon which their existence depends. The fact is simply that they have the choice
either to go or to starve. It is also clear that they will generally not go farther than
is absolutely necessary. The residents, on the other hand, are able to stay, because
their principal food is to be had at all seasons in the region where they are born.

It is furthermore evident, from what daily experience teaches us, that no life-sustain-
ing possibility is left unoccupied by nature, so that when she opens a new field where
a living can be made, there the invitation to immigrate is at once accepted. Birds
organized like those of which we said above that the approaching winter gives them
the choice between going away or starving, but which only go so far as barely neces-
sary, would be the first ones to avail themselves of the abundance of food in their
old quarters with the returning summer. <A conjectural case will help to elucidate
the above remarks. Suppose, then, that the bluebird originally inhabited a great area
having a uniform climate enabling the individuals throughout the range of the species
to find their food all the year round, they would then be sedentary over the whole
area. Suppose the climate became gradually colder in winter at the northern border,
suspending insect life during a part of the year. Those living in that region would
have to go or starve, and it cannot be doubted that those going in the right direetion —
viz. southward —and they only, would survive, while the rest would be killed. The
next year the survivors will return and breed, and again only the trayelers going south
will save their lives. We can now understand how a migratory habit might originate ;
and as we know that habits easily become hereditary when necessary for the preserva-
tion of the species, we are compelled to concede that the so-called “ instinet of migra-
tion is nothing but a hereditary habit forced upon certain kinds of birds by ‘natural
selection.’”

But it will be seen that the result may be the same if we reverse our conjecture,
and suppose that a bird — for example, the nightingale — originally inhabited a rather
restricted area, which subsequently became extended for a part of the year, the
summers of the adjacent territory gradually becoming inhabitable; the result would
be the same.

The theory, thus far, looks acceptable; the question is now whether sufficient
evidence can be had to make it probable that such conditions as those supposed aboye
have actually existed, in answer to which I shall quote the following from Professor
J. A. Allen’s pen: “In reference to this point, let us revert for a moment to the
geological history of North America. Nothing is doubtless more thoroughly estab-

Vou. Iv. —2

18 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

lished than that 2 warm-temperate or sub-tropical climate prevailed, down to the close
of the tertiary epoch, nearly to the northern pole, and that climate was previously
everywhere so far equable that the necessity of migration can hardly be supposed to
have existed. With the later refrigeration of the northern regions, bird life must have
been crowded thence toward the tropics, and the struggle for life, therefore, greatly
intensified. The less yielding forms may have become extinct; those less sensitive to
climatic change would seek to extend the boundaries of their range by a slight removal
northward during the milder intervals of summer, only, however, to be forced back
again by the recurrence of winter. Such migration must have been, at first, incipient
and gradual, extending and strengthening as the cold wave receded and opened up a
wider area within which existence in summer became possible. What was at first
a forced migration would become
habitual, and, through the heredity
of habit, give rise to that wonder-
ful faculty we term the instinct of
migration.”

While we thus feel justified in
accepting the theory as applicable
to North America, similar evidence
can be had from the Old World,
only that the phenomenon here is
somewhat different, and more con-
formable to the second supposition
mentioned above. It is probably
safe to say that northern and central
Europe during the glacial period
were inhabited by few if any birds,
while most of those which now live
there were crowded together in the
warmer regions to the south of the
| Alps. They have consequently im-
migrated to their present home from

Fic. 6.— Diagram showing the main migrating routes of the lit-

toral (except fluvio-littoral) birds in Europe. _.. marine- the south gradually as the ice re-
and submarine-littoral migrants, eg the razor-bill and the : i a7 © Ce
divers. pelago- and glacial-littoral migrants,e.g.the ceded and the summers made the

common elder and the king elder. 2 ° a
countries inhabitable, but were

driven back every winter when the cold reduced the insect-life, and covered the fields
with snow and the waters with ice.

We are now prepared to accept the theory that the regular habit is due to
‘natural selection’ caused by the forced immigration or emigration according to
change of climate during earlier geological periods.

Here is an appropriate place to consider for a few moments a painstaking work,
which started a new era in this branch of ornithology, viz., the book “On the Migrat-
ing Routes of Birds,” by Dr. J. A. Palmén, the genial Finnish zoologist. Earlier
authors had been aware that some birds followed well-defined and rather narrow
paths while traveling to or from their summer homes, and Professor Sundevall had
already in detail laid down the route of the common European crane (@rus grus);
but not before 1874, when Palmén published his book, was it made evident that most
migrating birds travel along geographically defined routes which do not follow one

INTRODUCTION. 19

single direction of the compass, and that the birds usually do not travel in the region
lying between these high-roads. He furthermore demonstrated that the routes of the
water-birds chiefly follow the coast, or, where they cross the continents, along the large
inland watercourses, and admirably mapped the Old World routes of the “littoral mi-
grants,” as he termed them, the preceding chart (Fig. 6.) giving an idea of the plan.

Looking at this map, two features strike us at first as difficult to understand, viz.,
the distinct routes across the open ocean, —for example, the routes A, B, and X; as
also the crossing of the Mediterranean at certain points, — which, besides, are not always
the shortest distance between the two continents. We might also think it strange that
marine birds should go inland as indicated by the routes C and D.

In order to explain this, we have again to go back to an earlier geological period, —
in fact, to the time when the
migration originated. In re-
gard to the first kind of routes
—those across the open
ocean—we can do nothing
better than transcribe Wal-
lace’s remarks, which are as
follows : —

“ Migrations of this type
probably date back from at
least the period when there
was continuous land along
the route passed over; and it
is a suggestive fact that this
land connection is known to
have existed in recent geo-
logical times. Britain was
connected with the continent
during, and probably before
the glacial epoch, and Gib-

raltar, as well as Sicily, and

als 7 = . FiG.7.—Diagram showing the depth of the seas surrounding Europe.
Malta, were also recently U1 aa eRe = heer 100 re fing is the 500 fathom line. The
: + 7 j “OV areas on the present land included within the dotted line were sub-
ited with Atrica, 48°18 Prov ed merged at no time during the glacial period.

i

by the fossil elephants and

other large Mammalia found in their caverns, by the comparatively shallow waters still
existing in this part of the Mediterranean, while the remainder is of oceanic profundity,
and the large amount of identity in the species of land animals still inhabiting the
opposite shores of the Mediterranean. The submersion of these two tracts of land
would be a slow process, and from year to year the change might be hardly percep-
tible. It is easy to see how the migration that had once taken place over continuous
land would be kept up, first over lagoons and marshes, then over a narrow channel,
and subsequently over a considerable sea, no one generation of birds ever perceiving
any difference in the route.”

The distribution of land and water, as alluded to by Wallace, is indicated on the
accompanying sketch-map (Fig. 7.) by the dotted lines which represent the 100 and
500 fathom lines; a comparative glance upon the two maps obviates any further expla-
nations of the routes A, B, and X. The conclusion is obvious that the oceanic routes

20 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

indicate the ancient coast-lines along which the birds originally migrated, and further-
more, that they show the ways by which the species immigrated into the countries
where they now pass the summer.

This conclusion, however, is also applicable to the land routes C and D. The
geological history of that part of the earth shows most conclusively that the great
Russian and the central European low-lands, during a not very distant period, geolo-
gically speaking, were submerged, forming the bottom of a rather shallow sea, the
shores of which, at different times, are well indicated by the lines alluded to. Even
when crossing the continents, the migrating routes of marine birds indicate ancient
coast-lines, and the immigration-road of the species inhabiting the north. We note
how closely these results agree with those arrived at above, where theorizing about
the origin of the migrating habit.

Having thus accounted for the theory as first proposed by Palmén, and nearly
simultaneously by Wallace, it remains to be shown how the birds are enabled to find
their way, often thousands of miles. We need not assume a miraculous or imperative
instinct, nor a sixth sense, nor the influence of terrestrial magnetism, in order to explain
the remarkable fact that small birds travel over large continents and vast seas twice a
year to and from the very spot where they were born. Practice is the mysterious
agent, though not only the practice of the individual, but the practice of the species,
the accumulated practice of thousands of generations, originating and strengthening
the faculty of orientation. “It is an ascertained fact” says Wallace, “that many
individual birds return year after year to build their nests in the same spot. This
shows a strong local attachment, and is, in fact, the faculty of feeling, on which their
very existence probably depends. For were they to wander at random each year,
they would, almost certainly, not meet with places so well suited to them, and might
even get into districts where they or their young would ineyitably perish. It is also
a curious fact that in so many cases the old birds migrate first, leaving the young
ones behind, who follow some short time later, but do not go so far as their parents.
This is very strongly opposed to the notion of an imperative instinct. The old- birds
have been before, the young have not, and it is only when the old ones have all or
nearly all gone, that the young go too, probably following some of the latest stragglers.
They wander, however, almost at random, and the majority are destroyed before the
next spring. This is proved by the fact that the birds which return in spring are as
a rule not more numerous than those which came the preceding spring, whereas
those which went away in autumn were two or three times as numerous. Those
young birds that do get back, however, have learnt by experience, and the next year
they take care to go with the old ones.”

Taking into account the “inherited talent for geography,” as Weissmann happily
styles it, with which every migratory bird is born, and remembering that the birds,
when traveling, fly very high, ane consequently overlook a great distance of their
route, taking a bird's-eye view’ of the country spread out beneath them, their
performance is scarcely more wonderful than is that of the pilot who safely guides the
vessel for hundreds and hundreds of miles along rocky shores and islands, all of which
seem identical and indistinguishable to the inexperienced passer-by ; or more admir-
able than the infallibility with which the Indian finds his way back, even if he has
passed that way but once, through an endless forest of trees, which to any of us
seem to be absolutely alike.

”

LEONHARD STEJNEGER.

BIRDS WITH TEETH. 21

Sus-Cxiass I.—Saururz&.

Orver I.— ORNITHOPAPPI.

In 1861 Hermann yon Meyer, the distinguished paleontologist, described a bird’s
feather found in the lithographic slate of Solenhofen, in Bavaria, belonging to the
upper Jurassic deposits. To the bird revealed by this feather, he gaye the name of
Archeopteryx lithographica. The discovery was received with some incredulity, but
doubts were soon dispelled by Professor Owen’s memoir in 1863. Herein he described
a slab found in the same deposits, which showed with remarkable clearness the hind-
quarters of the bird, which he rechristened Griphornis macrurus, aname he afterwards
abandoned. The pelvis, the legs, and the long tail furnished with feathers, were splen-
didly preserved; but, except the wing feathers, which were disordered, and some loose
and dislocated bones belonging to the anterior extremities, all the rest of the skeleton
was wanting.

In 1877 another slab was found, containing a second example of Archwopteryz,
which in many respects supplemented the other, as it is nearly or quite complete, show-
ing the head, the vertebra, ribs, and fore extremities, while the hind parts are in a less
satisfactory condition. The first specimen was bought by the British Museum in Lon-
don, while the second one was secured by the museum at Berlin, Germany; both have
been examined with the utmost care by men like Richard Owen, Carl Vogt, Professor
Marsh, and Dr. Liitken, and from their descriptions the present account has been
compiled. The second specimen is shown in our plate.

This bird is of the greatest interest on account of its age and its remarkable struc-
ture; for not only is it the oldest bird known, although the first types of this class
may be expected to have originated as early as paleozoic times, but its wonderful
state of preservation enables us to throw light upon the history of the reptiloid ances-
tor’s development into a feathered and flying bird, since in view of late discoveries it
cannot be denied that we have here one of the “missing links” between the two
classes, though Archwopteryx may still be regarded as belonging to the ornithic side
of the boundary.

The first specimen was about as large as a crow, or a peregrine falcon; the second
one is considerably larger, which may be due to sex; but I should not be surprised if
they turned out to be two different species, as suggested by Professor Seeley, the Berlin
specimen having relatively longer digits, forearm, and legs, with proportionally shorter
feet.

Carl Vogt remarks that the head is small, pyramidal, the top nearly flat, the occi-
put obliquely truncated, and the orbits large. Both he and Professor Marsh found
teeth actually in position, apparently in the premaxillary, as they are below or in front
of the nasal aperture. The form of the teeth, both crown and root, is very similar to
the teeth of Hesperornis, one of the toothed birds of the cretaceous formation. The
fact that some teeth are scattered about near the jaw would suggest that they were
implanted in a groove. No teeth are known from the lower jaw, but they were
probably present.

The presacral vertebra, apparently twenty-one in number, are all, or nearly all,
biconcave, resembling in general form those of Jchthyornis, another cretaceous

22 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

bird. The sacral vertebre are fewer in number than in any known bird, those
united together probably less than five.

One of the most remarkable features of the Archwopterysx is the length of the tail,
which is as long as the rest of the body, consisting of twenty or twenty-one long and
thin vertebrx, exactly as in the reptiles, and widely differing from all other known
birds. It is in reference to this unique structure of the tail that the sub-class has been
named Saururm, or lizard-tailed birds.

Professor Marsh has been able to determine the presence of a single broad plate,
constituting the sternum, which be thinks probably supported a keel, as the scapular
arch, with its distinctly avian furculum, strongly resembles that of modern birds. The
ribs are very fine, thin, curved, and pointed at the end like surgeon’s needles, and show
no flattening nor uncinate processes, according to Vogt; but Dr. Litken thinks that
he observed a trace of these processes, though admitting that the ribs are remarkably
thin, and unlike those of other birds.

The arm proper is truly avian. Only one carpal bone seems to be present, but
with that exception the hand is just what may be seen in embryonic birds of to-day,
the three metacarpals being absolutely free, as in reptiles. When describing the first
specimen, Professor Owen assigned four digits to it. ‘The new one shows that this was
erroneous, as it has only three long, slender digits, armed with claws, hooked and
sharp-edged, on each hand; the radial digit, or the pollex, is the shortest; the other
two are nearly equal, the second slightly the longer. The pollex 1s composed of
a short metacarpal, a pretty long phalanx, and of a terminal claw-bearing phalanx;
the other two digits have, besides the metacarpal, three normal phalanges. The pollex
was free, like the other two digits.

One of the most interesting results of Professor Marsh’s study of the London
specimen is the determination of the separate condition of the pelvic bones, which, in
all other known adult birds, recent and extinet, are firmly anchylosed, while in the
young birds and in the Dinosaurians they are distinct.

The thigh and leg bones do not present any peculiarity worthy of our attention in
the present connection, except that the distal end of the fibula stands in front of the
tibia, as in Zgwanodon, but contrary to the condition in the birds. The feet do not
differ essentially from those of living birds, though deep grooves between the three
elements of the metatarsus seem to indicate that the metatarsals of the second, third,
and fourth toes were distinct, or, at least, only imperfectly united.

There remain the feathers, which, no doubt, are true bird’s feathers, with a median
shaft, having barbs perfectly formed.

The remiges of the wings are fixed to the ulnar edge of the arm, and to the hand;
they are covered for nearly half their length with a fine filiform down. None of them
project beyond the others; the wing is rounded in its outline like that of a fowl. It
is possible that at the base of the neck there was a ruff, like that of the condor. Some
traces of it are perhaps visible. The tibia was clothed with feathers for the whole of
its length. The Archwopteryx thus wore breeches, as do our faleons. Each caudal
vertebra bore a pair of lateral rectrices, an arrangement totally different from that of
all other known birds.

All the rest of the body —the head, neck, and trunk — were apparently naked and
unprovided with feathers, for no traces of either down or feathers are there to be
seen; but it must be remembered that the specimen may have been completely decom-
posed before imbedded, and the small feathers or down carried away, while the larger

BIRDS WITH TEETH. 23

ones only adhered to the skeleton. The theory of the nakedness of the body, as
advocated by Professor Vogt, is not very probable, in view of the fact that the thighs
were feathered ; and to suppose that the rest of the body was scaly is hardly defen-
sible, for we may with greater right ask where the scales are than where the feathers.

The conclusion we gain from the above is that the oldest bird known was a land-
bird, and arboreal in its habits. But in spite of its feathers it can hardly have had a
great resemblance to the forms which now inhabit the woods. Nor is it probable that
it was a very expert flyer; the broad, rounded wings and the curious tail suggest a
locomotion of a somewhat similar nature to the ‘flight’ of the flying squirrel, the
tail of which in fact strikingly recalls that of the Archwopteryx.

There have been and still are authors who regard this animal as a reptile, but
apparently with no good foundation. If we accept the theory that the birds have
developed from the reptiles, the transition must have been gradual and nearly imper-
ceptible, so that the line to be drawn between the two classes must be more or less
artificial. But if we do not accept a feathered and warm-blooded vertebrate as a bird,
where then is the criterion to distinguish it from a reptile ?

The Archwopteryx was long the only Jurassic bird known. In addition to his
many other discoveries of fossil birds, Professor Marsh has of late added that of an
American Jurassic bird, from the Atlantosaurus-beds of Wyoming, a form which in
1881 he described as Laopteryx priscus. The most important specimen is the poste-
rior portion of the skull, indicating a bird rather larger than a great blue heron.
Professor Marsh remarks further that in its main features the type specimen resembles
the sknll of the Ratitze more than that of any existing birds. In the matrix attached
to this skull a single tooth was found, which most resembles the teeth of birds, espe-
cially those of Lchthyornis ; and Marsh thinks it probable that it belonged to Laop-
teryx, and that this bird also possessed biconcave vertebra. Like Archwopteryxr, it
was a land-bird. ;

It would be futile to attempt a reconstruction of the whole bird from the few
remnants on the old Cuvierian plan, since modern discoveries have proved the utter
failure of the method. Nobody can tell how the tail of Zaopterya was formed, and
when we place it with the Saururz, we do so because that position is as good as any
other, and because its geological age probably corresponds to that of Archwopteryx.

LEoNHARD STEJINEGER.

Sun-Criass II.—OpontrotTormM®.

OrprER I.— PTEROPAPPI.

With the exception of the Solenhofen bird, only a few scattered remains of fossil
birds, save from the most recent deposits, had been found prior to those startling dis-
coyeries which afterwards were figured and deseribed in Professor Marsh’s famous
monograph on the extinct toothed birds of North America. Not only were the re-
mains of these cretaceous birds in an unusually splendid state of preservation, but they
reversed in many respects both the popular and the scientific ideas as to the charac-
ters and the origin of birds.

As these Odontornithes, or toothed birds, form one of the most interesting and
important contributions to modern ornithological science, and as a thorough under-
standing of their remarkable structure, so different from that of any living bird, is

24 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

necessary in order to obtain an intelligent idea of the state of that science, and of the
class it treats of, a full account of these ancestors of the feathered tribes has been
deemed desirable, and, as Professor Marsh’s work is the only source of information,
the following statements are given as nearly in his own words as possible.

The geological horizon of the known Odontornithes is in the middle cretaceous,
and corresponds to the strata named by Marsh the ‘ Pteranodon beds,’ situated along
the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, and especially on the adjoining plains in
Kansas and Colorado. These beds consist mainly of a fine yellow chalk and caleare-
ous shale, both admirabiy adapted-to preserve delicate specimens. The first bird fossil
discovered in this region was the lower end of the tibia of Hesperornis, found by Pro-
fessor Marsh in December, 1870, near the Smoky Hill River, in western Kansas. In
June, 1871, he made the discovery of the skeleton which forms the type of ZZ. regalis.
In the autumn, 1872, another skeleton of the same was found, and the type of the
genus Apatornis. The fossil birds procured in that region between 1870 and 1880, by
the different explorations, include remains of more than one hundred individuals of the
toothed birds.

It was soon found that these toothed birds were of two different kinds, which,
although united under the common heading, Odontornithes, were more different than
almost any two living birds of the present day, and which had very little in common

save the teeth. But even
these were extremely dif-
ferent, being placed, as
they were, in a continuous
groove in one group, while
: in the other they were
J implanted in individual

FiG. 8. — Quadrate bone of Ichthyornis. sockets. The former were

therefore styled Odonto-

holes (from the Greek odonto?, teeth, and holkos, a groove) while the others received

the name Odontotorme (odontoi, and tormos, a socket). The latter form the sub-
class here under consideration.

The Odontotorme, or birds with teeth in sockets, so far as now known, were all of
small size, and possessed powerful wings and very small legs and feet. Some of their
characters —as, for instance, their vertebrae, biconcave or hollow both behind and in
front — separate them widely from all birds recent and extinct.

The remains of this group preserved are more or less pneumatic, and this fact, in
connection with their small size, is perhaps the main reason why so few have been dis-
covered, As might naturally be expected, the hollow bones of flying birds, being
filled with air, enable the carcass to float upon the water much longer than it other-
wise would, and it is thus liable to be destroyed by fishes or other animals. Hence,
the chances of complete skeletons being buried entire are greatly diminished. The
plains east of the Rocky Mountains have yielded remains of not less than seventy-
seven different individuals of Odontotorms, belonging to two well-marked “ genera,”
Tehthyornis and Apatornis, the former represented by several species (some of which
were formerly referred to the genus Graculavus), and the latter by only one. These
were all small birds, scarcely larger than a pigeon. In their powerful wings and small
legs and feet, they remind one of the terns, and, according to present evidence, they
were aquatic birds, of similar life and habits.

BIRDS WITH TEETH. 25

The skull was very large in proportion to the rest of the skeleton, the dispropor-
tion being well shown in the accompanying cut, Fig. 9. The cranial sutures were
nearly obliterated. The quadrate bone, as shown in Fig. 8, has only a single facet on
its articular head, agreeing in that respect with Hesperornis and the Struthionine
birds. The brain was small, and, like that of Lesperornis, which it resembles more
nearly than that of any other known bird, in its main features strongly reptilian, as in
the elongated form and the prominent optic lobes. The two rami of the lower jaw
were entirely separate,
having been united in
front only by cartilage,
-and the tooth-bearing
portion is so similar to
that of some of the smal-
ler Mosasauroid reptiles that,
without other portions of the skel-
eton, the two could hardly be dis-
tinguished. The teeth were im-
planted in distinct sockets, thus
differing widely from what was
the case in JZesperornis ; they
were all sharp, pointed, and
strongly recurved, those of the
upper jaw apparently larger than
the lower ones. Whether the an-
terior portion of the upper jaw,
the premaxilla, contained teeth is
uncertain, but Professor Marsh
thinks it probable that they were
absent, as in Hesperornis. The
whole surface of the tooth above
the jaw was covered with smooth
enamel. The succession of the
teeth took place vertically, as in
crocodiles and Dinosaurs, and not
laterally, as in ZZesperornis and ,
the Mosasaurs. The young teeth
were much inclined when they ~ ~_-
first appeared above the jaw, after
the old teeth had been expelled.

The presacral vertebree were more remarkable than those of any other known bird
except Archwopteryx, for they were not saddle-shaped, but biconcave as shown in Figs.
10, 11, which show clearly the cup-shaped articulation of the centrum. However, the
third vertebra of the neck, but no other, presents a modified form (Fig. 12), evidently
produced by the necessity of providing for an easy vertical motion of the neck at its
first bend. The tail is remarkable for being of the same type as is that of all mod-
ern birds, namely, comparatively short, and the last vertebre anchylosed into a
pygostyle.

The fore extremities, including the shoulder girdle, were, so far as known, essen-

#

Wha Gi trod

FIG. 9. — Restoration of Ichthyornis.

26 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

tially as in living birds, as apparently was the sternum also. Of the eclavicles only a
fragment of the upper end has yet been found. The wings clearly indicate very
strong power of flight. The humerus had an enormous radial crest, surpassing in
comparative size that of any living bird, and was placed in a plane nearly parallel with
the long axis of the head of the humerus, instead of considerably inclined, as in most
birds, thus strongly resembling, in these two points, the humerus in the pterodactyls,
the extinct flying reptiles. The carpal bones were two in number, and the metacar-
pals united as usual; a noticeable feature of the second finger is that the thin lateral
expansion of the first phalanx ends in a prominent flattened, hook-like process beyond
the rest of the bone.

The pelvic arch exhibits some interesting reptilian characters. The sacrum con-
sisted of about ten vertebra thoroughly anchylosed, as were also the pelvic bones.
Of these the ischium was expanded in the middle, extended further back than the
ilium, and was not united with the latter posteriorly, agreeing in that respect with
Hesperornis and a few modern reptilian birds. The legs and feet do not differ more
from those of modern birds than did the wings. The metatarsals are anchylosed
firmly and present no peculiar features. The phalanges, with the exception of one,
have not yet been found.

That Jchthyornis was provided with feathers is proved beyond question by the
tubercles for the attachment of quills on the forearm. It will thus be seen that Zc/-

nm ag pf
Fig, 10, Fic. 11.
Vertebrmw of Ichthyornis.

thyornis, “ the fish-bird,” as it is fitly called from its fish-like vertebrae, was a remarkable
combination of very old and very modern characters, biconcave vertebra and large head
with separate lower jaw and teeth, in connection with anchylosed metacarpals and
metatarsals. Referring to the accompanying cut (Fig. 9), which represents Marsh’s
restoration of one of the species, for information ¢oncerning the general aspect of the
bird, we may remark, however, that the missing parts are supplied from a tern, a rather
specialized modern bird, and that consequently many features of the restoration are
unreliable, while one, at least, is manifestly incorrect. For we may safely assume that
Ichthyornis was holorhinal like Zesperornis, and not schizorhinal like a tern, as repre-
sented in the figure, and it seems rather strange that the head has been restored after
the fashion of the latter, when it is admitted that it resembles that of the former
“more nearly than that of any other known bird.” We may, perhaps, also take excep-
tion to the restoration of the neck, as not in harmony with the disproportionate large
head.

The gap between Zehthyornis and all other birds is very great, so it would be quite
unsafe to advance any opinion as to its genesis and relationships. All that we can say
at present is, that it sprung very early from the ancestral stock, preserving the primi-
tive character of the vertebre and the skull long after other parts had reached an
advanced specialization, thus adding new evidence to the principle, “that an animal
may attain great development in one set of characters, and at the same time retain
other low features of the ancestral type.”

BIRDS WITH TEETH. 27

Sus-Cuiass III.—OpontTonoice®.

Orver I.— DROMAZOPAPPI.

* Contemporaneous with the Zehthyornis, other toothed birds of quite different aspect
and characters inhabited the same cretaceous sea which then covered the central aud
western parts of our continent. The former went hovering over the waters, darting,
like the terns and gulls of the present day, upon the unfortunate fishes which came
too near the surface; while the type of the present sub-class, the Hesperornis, or ‘the
western bird,’ as that name literally means, followed the prey to the very bottom of
the sea, in diving power and speed surpassing any other bird, living or fossil, and even
more fitted for aquatic life than the penguin, as it had no wings whatsoever, and its
feet were so specially modified for propelling their large bodies through the water that
they could hardly move on land. We will further on have opportunity of characterizing
the penguins as the seals among the birds: Hesperornis and its allies represent the
dolphins.

It is most fortunate for science, Professor Marsh remarks, that Hesperornis regalis
— with the exception of Archaeopteryx and Laopteryx, the oldest bird known —should
now be represented by remains as complete as any fossil skeleton yet discovered, even
in the later formations, as nearly all the bones of the specimens obtained, when first
found in the matrix, were almost as perfect as in life; and the various remains belong-
ing to about fifty different individuals of Hesperornis are now in the museum of Yale
College.

With a general superficial resemblance to that of a loon, the skull of Hesperornis,
in its more important characters, approaches that of the Struthious birds, being like
the latter dromeognathous, and having, like them and Jchthyornis, only one facet on
the articular head of the quadrate bone. The nostrils are
holorhinal. The brain-case is small, and its sutures entirely
fused together. As in Jchthyornis and many recent water-
birds, well-marked glandular depressions extend along the roof
of the orbits. The premaxillaries were elongated, forming a
long, pointed beak, which in front of the nostrils was apparently
covered with a horny sheath, as in modern birds. There were
no teeth in these bones, as in the upper jaw they were con-
fined to the maxillary bones, which were armed with (in Z7.
regalis fourteen) teeth set in a deep, continuous groove, with
only faint indications of separate sockets. The lower jaw was
thickly set with teeth to the end (in regalis thirty-three), and
the two halves were separate, as in Zchthyornis, only united in
front by ligament. The teeth, which are so reptilian in their
characters that nobody would hesitate to refer them to that
class, had they been found alone, were gradually replaced by
successional teeth, the germ of the young tooth growing in a
pit made in the old one by absorption, thus undermining and Pooth of Hesper-
at last expelling the latter (Fig. 13). rion aga

In strange contrast to Zehthyornis, the present group of fossil birds had vertebra
resembling in their more important characters the corresponding vertebre of existing

28 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

birds. Their number was about forty-nine, a high number for the class; but the most
interesting part of the vertebral column is undoubtedly the tail, which was composed
of the great number of twelve vertebra. The middle and posterior ones had very
long and broad transverse processes, which restricted lateral motion, clearly indicating
that the tail was mainly moved up and down, evidently as an aid in diving, the lateral

Fic. 14. —Caudal vertebra of Hesperornis.

motion being confined to the tail as a whole, and performed between the foremost
vertebra. The last three or four caudals were firmly fused together, forming a flat
plate, analogous to, but quite unlike, the ploughshare bone of modern birds. Thus
the tail formed a sort of an oar, similar to a beaver’s tail (Fig. 14).

The shoulder girdle, in its retrograde development, is particularly interesting as
showing strong resemblance in many respects to that of the existing drommognathous
birds, especially when we remember that /Zesperornis itself had a palatal structure of
a similar type; for not only is the sternum deyoid of a keel, but the long axes of the
adjacent parts of the scapula and
coracoid were parallel, or identical,
as shown in the accompanying cut
(Fig. 15). The breast bone was
thin and weak, with a rounded
mesial projection in front, corre-
sponding to the manubrium; the
posterior margin was quite thin,
and had two shallow emarginations.
The ribs show only little difference
from those of modern birds, and
some of them supported uncinate
processes. The clavicles were sep-
arate, resembling the correspond-
ing bones in the embryos of some
modern forms. The coracoids and
the scapula were quite small. The wing is represented by the rudimentary humerus
alone, the other bones having become atrophied.

FiG, 15.—Seapular arch of Hesperornis, reduced.

The pelvis, though in its general form resembling that of Colymbus, exhibits many
features common to that of reptiles, and of several dromeognathous living birds.
Most interesting, perhaps, is that the condyloid cup of the hip-joint is closed by bone,
except a foramen that perforates the inner wall, entirely unlike the acetabulum of
other birds, but resembling that of the crocodiles. The three constituents of the pel-

BIRDS WITH TEETH. 29

vis, which are firmly fused together, have their posterior extremities free, as in the
emu and in Zinamus.

As the legs of the ostriches have been extremely modified, in order to adapt them
for swift movements on terra firma, so were those of Hesperornis specialized for a life
more completely aquatic than that of any known bird. Professor Marsh thinks that
it might even be questioned whether it could be said to walk on land, though admit-
ting that some movement on shore was a necessity. Considering the posterior limb
as a whole, it will be found a nearly perfect piece of machinery for propulsion through
the water. Provisions were made for a very powerful backward stroke, followed by a
quick recovery, with little loss by resistance, a movement quite analogous to the strong
stroke of an oar feathered
on its return.

To a certain degree the
legs of LZesperornis may be .
said to resemble those of the grebes, though
the differences are both many and impor-
tant. The thigh bone is shorter and stouter
than in any known aquatic bird, recent or
fossil, and is very much flattened trans-
versely, being considerably broader than
thick. The fourth trochanter (Dollo) is
plainly visible on the figure. The leg bone
is much the largest bone in the skeleton;
the cnemial process rises into a powerful
tuberosity above the articulation with the
thigh bone. The patella, or knee-pan, is a
large separate bone, perforated by a large
hole for the tendon of the ambiens muscle.
The second, third, and fourth metatarsals
were thoroughly fused together, as in all
recent birds except the penguins, but in
most specimens traces of the sutures remain. _
The fourth metatarsal so greatly exceeded : Z
the other two in size that it forms by far = =
the greatest part of the entire tarso-meta- Fic. 16.— Restoration of Hesperornis regalis.
tarsal bone. The first metatarsal was only
a mere remnant, united to the lower half of the second by cartilage. The number of
toes were four, all directed forward, as in the penguins, and the number of the pha-
langes seems to have been normal, viz., 2, 3, 4, 5, of which the penultimate one was the
longest, the phalanges on the whole being shorter and thicker than in most swimming
birds. - The fourth or outer toe was much the longest, being in fact the dominant one,
three or four times as powerful as the adjoining middle one, or, indeed, as the other
three combined; these were gradually diminishing in length to the hallux.

As to the restoration of this remarkable bird, as represented in Fig. 16, little is to
be said, as only a few unimportant bones are missing, so that we here have a nearly
complete representation of the entire skeleton. Hesperornis regalis was about six
feet long, and, when standing in the position represented in our figure, would be rather
more than three feet in height, thus considerably surpassing the largest pelican, It is

30 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

not difficult, with such material, to imagine, or rather to conclude, which were the lead-
ing peculiarities in the habit of that strange water-bird inhabiting the great — now
fossilized —sea of the far west, many, many thousand years ago. Not being able to
improve on Professor Marsh’s account, we take great pleasure in introducing it here
in full: — :

“ Hesperornis was a typical aquatic bird, and in habits was doubtless very similar
to the loon, although, flight being impossible, its life was probably passed entirely upon
the water, except when visiting the shore for the purpose of breeding. The nearest
land at that time was the succession of low islands which marked the position of the
present Rocky Mountains. In the shallow tropical sea, extending from this land five
hundred miles or more to the eastward, and to unknown limits north and south, there

yas the greatest abundance and variety of fishes, and these doubtless constituted the
main food of the present species. /esperornis, as we have seen, was an admirable
diver, while the long neck, with its capabilities of rapid flexure, and the long, slender
jaws armed with sharp, recurved teeth, formed together a perfect instrument for the

apture and retention of the most agile fish. As the lower jaws were united in front
only by cartilage, as in serpents, and had on each side a joint which admitted of some
motion, the power of swallowing was doubtless equal to almost any emergency.”

If, allowing our imagination, within logical bounds, to cover the bones of the
skeleton, figured above, with flesh, skin, and feathers, what a strange creature rises
before our eyes! A bird indeed, but a kind of swimming, loon-like, raptorial ostrich,
without fore limbs, with the gape armed with formidable rows of strong teeth like a
gigantic lizard, and with a large, broad, and flattened tail like a beaver. And extremely
paradoxical as is its external appearance, so is also its internal structure.

Compared with Jchthyornis, Hesperornis, on the whole, is the more specialized
form as is indicated by its saddle-shaped vertebra, its atrophied keel of the breastbone,
and its rudimentary fore limbs. But several other features, on the other hand, are less
developed; thus, for instance, the teeth implanted in grooves, and not in separate
sockets, as well as the long tail,—characters retained from their common ancestor,
which may be looked for in some older deposit than the cretaceous formation.

Most of the characters which we have mentioned as Struthionine or ostrich-like,
are really only reptile-like, having the same signification among the Struthiones, though
some features — for example, the arrangement of the shoulder girdle — seem to indicate
a nearer relationship ; that is to say, that the latter birds have sprung from an ances-
tral stock not very distant, allied to that strangest of all strange birds, the ancient
Hesperornis.

The systematic position of another cretaceous bird from the Pteranodon beds of
western Kansas, the Zestornis crassipes is pretty well established to be near Z/esper-
ornis. A nearly complete skeleton was found in 1876 by Mr. G. O. Cooper. This bird
is considerably larger than J/esperornis, and is remarkable for a protuberance on the
inner side of the metatarsus, which may have served as a support for a sort of
rudimentary spur. Many other remains of eretacéous birds, particularly from the
upper deposits, have been found and described in this country, but they are mostly too
fragmentary to allow more than a guess as to their relationships, and, as hardly more
than a few bones are preserved of Baptornis, Laornis, Graculavus, ete., it will
be sufficient to mention their names. In Europe numerous remains, among which is
the so-called Znaliornis, have been found in the cretaceous deposits, and to these the
above remark is equally applicable.

LEonnHARD STEJNEGER.

EURHIPIDURE. 31

Sus—-Criass [V.— Euruiremur2.

Eurhipidure, the term applied by Gill to these birds in contradistinction to
Saurure, means ‘birds provided with a normal fan tail,’ and expresses very well the
general feature of this sub-class, namely, a feather tail, the base of which, formed by
the shafts, practically starts from a single point, spreading out at the end like a fan,
notwithstanding the fact that not a few birds of this division are deprived of this
‘external’ tail, as, for instance, some Struthionine birds and the grebes, since this
absence is only due to a retrograde development of forms which were as ‘eurhipidu-
rous’ asthe rest of them. More trenchant is the corresponding internal or anatomical
arrangement of the caudal vertebra. These are reduced in number, shortened, and
the last ones united into a single bone, the pygostyle, the total length of the tail
proper being much less than that of the rest of the body. But while these characters
are also shared by the Ichthyornithes of a foregoing sub-class, the members of the
present one have no biconcave antesacral vertebra, nor teeth in the jaws.

The Eurhipidure embraces all the living birds, besides a number of extinct forms
from the more recent geological formations, consequently all birds known to constitute
the class until less than a quarter of a century ago.

SupEeR-OrprErR I.— DRoMX®OGNATH A.

Two peculiarities in the anatomical structure of the birds of this group separate
them at once and rather widely from the rest of the Hurhipidure, namely, the
dromognathous character of the palate, and the relations. of the pubie elements,
of which the ilium and the ischium are not united behind, and do not enclose a sciatic
foramen as in both Impennes and Euornithes. These characters are combined with
several others, and seem to us to be of more importance than the presence or absence
of a keel on the sternum. The absence of that element in some forms of the present
group may be due to abortion and reduction. This is the most probable explanation,
though it may not be the true one. But in the latter case the birds with keeled
sternum must have sprung from forms not haying a keel, as we can hardly assume
that Ratite and Carinate sprung from the ancestral reptilian stock independently of
each other. On the other hand, there is ample proof that several Euornithes have
become nearly keelless by reduction (Didus, Notornis, Habroptilus), so there seems
not to be any reason why it should not be lost altogether. Again, the plumage and
rudiments of rectrices in several Ratite (cassowary, Apteryx), strongly point towards
their reduction from flying ancestors, or, to use Wallace’s words, “ render it probable
that the Struthious birds do not owe their imperfect wings to a direct evolution from a
reptilian type, but to a retrograde development from some low form of winged bird.
. .. We may be sure that birds acquired wings and feathers and some power of
flight before they developed a keeled sternum, since we see that bats, with no such
keel, fly very well.”

The Dromognathx, which once formed the prevailing constituents of the earth’s
bird-fauna, are now only few in number. Many of their members have been extin-
guished during the present geological period, and several are soon to follow. The
present era is that of the Euornithes.

Not before the theory of evolution had become fairly established was the impor-

32 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

©

tance of the structural characters peculiar to this super-order clearly understood. A
few impotent attempts had been made to give the Struthious birds a position in the
system corresponding to their peculiarities, but most ornithologists contented them-
selves by conceding them rank as a “family,” or, at the most, as an “ order,” while
others adhered to the arrangement of the eighteenth century, in regarding them only
as separate genera, with which they associated a few forms of somewhat similar hab-
its and superficial resemblance, — for instance, the bustards, —in a conglomerate group,
designated by the name of Cursores. To Huxley isdue the honor of vindicating their
right to be regarded as primary groups, though he failed to include the Tinamous
(Crypturi), his Dromeognathe par excellence, a name we have here adopted to signify
all the dromeognathous birds with true bird tail and without teeth.

Orpver I.—STRUTHIONES.

Our knowledge of the large forms constituting the first order of living birds can
hardly be said to be more than twenty-five years old. True, all the typical species
were known long ago, but a more thorough examination and understanding of
the group is of rather recent date. Then, only five or six species were known; now
we recognize about twenty forms ; their affinities, their internal and external anatomy,
and partly their development, have been investigated during the last quarter of a
century, and more accurate information concerning habits and nature of these birds
has replaced the old yarns and fables imposed upon credulous travelers by ignorant
savages. Ornithology is here bound to thankfully acknowledge the aid derived from
the zoological gardens, and what has been accomplished may be taken as a fair
promise of what we have to expect in the future. For if we are going to study the
birds, we must study the whole animal, and not the stuffed skin alone; the feathers
constitute an important and peculiar part of the bird; but the bird is also a vertebrate,
and should be treated as such.

The members of this division are characterized by the great development of the
hind extremities for terrestrial locomotion, hence, the legs are-high and stout, and the
neck is correspondingly long and slender. The bill is broad at base, depressed, not
longer than the head, and the nostrils, though not placed at the extremity of the bill,
as in Apteryges, are situated further from the base than in most other birds; the
mouth is deeply split. None of the living forms have more than three toes, and some
of them —the African ostrich and its nearest allies — have only two, by suppression of
the third toe. It has been usually taught that the Struthiones have no lower larynx,
or ‘syrinx,’ as the rest of the birds, but Prof. Forbes’s investigation shows that this
is totally erroneous, and since the mistake is still repeated in works of rather recent
date, it may be useful to repeat the conclusion he arrived at, as follows: “ As regards
the alleged absence of a lower larynx (or ‘syrinx’) in these ‘Ratite’ birds, it is
obviously untrue as regards the genus Rhea. In the other genera, an answer is less
easy, and its nature must depend upon what is meant by the term ‘lower larynx.’
If the presence of semi-rings externally, and of a membrana tympaniformis internally,
forming the walls of the bronchi, and of vocal chords developed in the interior of
those tubes, be held to be sufficient to characterize a ‘syrinx, then it will be incor-
rect to say that the Ratite birds have no voice-organs. As I have shown, all these
three structures are present, variously developed, in the genera in question, together
with at least a rudiment of a membrana semilunaris.”

OSTRICHES. 33

The Struthionine birds are now nearly confined to the southern hemisphere, and the
living forms are only the last survivors of a once numerous order, which also domi-
nated in Europe, and probably North America, since, from the strata underlaying
London, several fossil remains have been described, the so-called Macrornis, said to be
related to the emu, and the so-called Megalornis emuinus of similar aftinities. Also
from New Mexico is a fossil ostrich known, the Diatryma gigantea of Cope.

It may be interesting to quote as a conclusion Mr. Wallace’s ideas as to the origin
of the birds in question, and how he accounts for their present disconnected distri-
bution. :

During the early period, he contends, when the great southern continents — South
America, Africa, and Australia—were equally free from the incursions of the
destructive felines of the north, the Struthiones, or ostrich type of birds, was probably
developed into its existing forms. It is not at all necessary to suppose that these three
continents were at any time united, in order to account for the distribution of these
great terrestrial birds. . . . The ancestral Struthious type may, like the marsupial,
have once spread over the larger portion of the globe; but as higher forms, especially
Carnivora, became developed, it would be exterminated everywhere but in those
regions where it was free from their attacks. In each of these it would develop into
special forms adapted to surrounding conditions; and the large size, great strength,
and excessive speed of the ostrich may haye been a comparatively late development
caused by its exposure to the attacks of enemies which rendered such modification
necessary.

The ostrich — the largest, and the first to open the series of the living birds — belongs
to the genus Struthio, which alone constitutes the family Strrurmiontp® and the
super-family STRUTHIOIDEA. <A native of the plains and deserts of Africa, it
has been known to civilized man since the beginning of the history of the western
nations, noted for its size, its swiftness of foot, and the beauty of its curled tail and
wing plumes, which, since time immemorial, have been used as signs of distinetion
and as ornament, therefore being the object of an important trade on the dark con-
tinent. Huge fans of ostrich-plumes belong to the attributives of the African and
Oriental rulers of to-day as they did during the time of the Egyptian Pharaohs; the
ladies of olden Rome prized its unrivaled feathers as highly as any slave of the present
fashion, and live ostriches were among the strange animals which, nearly two thousand
years ago, were exhibited to the gaze of the populace in the arenas and amphitheatres,
while to-day that giant is indispensable to any menagerie or zoological garden of repu-
tation. Hottentots and other African savages kill him for the feathers, Arabian sheiks
and English tourists hunt him for sport, lions and other wild beasts kill him whenever
they find an opportunity; and although the ostrich is one of the few birds deprived
of the capacity of flight, yet he is not exterminated, nor is he likely to become so in a
near future, for several reasons: his swiftness of foot, his great productiveness, and
his recent domestication, which promises to increase the number of living ostriches
by ten for each one destroyed by the repeating rifle.

The nearest allies of the true ostriches are the South American naudus, which differ
from the other birds of the same order by having the wing-bones comparatively well
developed, especially by a long humerus, and there being three fingers on the hand.
They have also a strong ambiens muscle, which is absent in the cassowaries and emus; the
gall-bladder is absent. JZnter se the African and the American ostriches are distinguished
by the former having two toes only, the third and fourth, respectively, with four and

VOL. Iv. —3

84 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. ’

five phalanges, the latter being clawless, thus showing a tendency to become finally re-
duced, as in the Solipeds among the mammals; the true ostrich, furthermore, is char-
acterized by an external tail; by the maxillo-palatines articulating with facets on the
sides of the vomer; by the pubes uniting in a ventral symphysis, while the ischia are
free; by having two carotids, besides several other features.

The “camel bird,” the “pride of the desert,” is represented in Africa by three
forms or species, the well-known Struthio camelus, besides the more recently described
S. australis, from South Africa, and S. molybdophanes from Somali-land, though the
status of the two last ones is yet somewhat doubtful. An ostrich is also known to
occur in the deserts adjoining Palestine and the countries of the Euphrates valley, and
is also said to inhabit Arabia proper. That it has always been called 8. camelus does
not prove that it is the same species as that of Western Africa, since the two other
forms of that continent, until a few years ago, were confounded with it under the
ame name; it is rather probable that the Asiatic bird is separable. The differences,
however, are slight and only visible to the expert. For our purpose it suffices to
describe the appearance of the ostrich in general. The head, neck, and legs are
naked, only covered by a sparse down; the male has black feathers on the body, those
of the wing and tail being white and of the greatest value; the female is plainer
colored, brownish gray, and the young birds, when two months old, are similar; the
chick is covered all over with a light-colored spiny down, with longitudinal blackish
stripes. The full adult plumage is assumed at the third year. The adult male stands
about seven feet high, and weighs from one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds.
In habits the different forms may be nearly identical, and what trustworthy travelers
have related of one species is probable applicable to the others.

The ostrich has, from olden time, been regarded as an exceedingly stupid bird,
—we all remember the tale of the ostrich believing himself concealed when putting
his head behind a stone so he could not see his enemy, —and Alfred Brehm has em-
phatically expressed the same opinion, though other observers attribute its shyness and
timidity to a certain degree of intelligence. In captivity it soon becomes tame, and is
said to be quite gentle, but is easily frightened so as to run insanely about in its
inclosure; during the breeding season the old male is usually quite savage, and attacks
even man, inflicting sometimes dangerous injuries by kicking.

Timid and of rather solitary tastes, the ostrich lives in small flocks, relying upon
their extraordinarily acute sight and their fleetness of foot for safety, often in the
neighborhood of the still more wary herds of wild zebras. They feed upon the low
grass and herbs, when in the wild state, and occasionally some insects, a few reptiles
or the like are picked up; but it is only in confinement that the ostrich proves him-
self that voracious omnivorous animal that has made the ostrich stomach almost
proverbial.

Judging from the scanty information of travelers as to the voice of the ostrich,
we may infer that, usually, it is a rather silent bird, though occasionally making good
use of its rather imperfect syrinx, as seems evident from Livingstone’s statement, that
it is frequently difficult to distinguish its bellowing from the roaring of the lion.

In order to illustrate certain habits, and the manner in which they are hunted in
North Africa, we transcribe the following from Rey. Mr. Tristram’s spirited account
of his experiences in that part of the world: —

“The capture of the ostrich is the greatest feat of hunting to which the Arab
sportsman aspires, and in richness of booty it ranks next to the plunder of a caravan.

OSTRICHES. 35

But such prizes are not to be obtained without cost and toil, and it is generally esti-
mated that the capture of an ostrich or two must be at the sacrifice of the lives of two
horses. So wary is the bird, and so open are the vast plains over which it roams, that

FiG. 17.— Struthio camelus, African ostrich.

no ambuseades or artifices can be employed, and the vulgar resource of dogged perse-
verance is the only mode of pursuit. The horses to be employed undergo a long and
painful training, abstinence from water and a diet of dry dates being considered the
best means for strengthening their wind. The hunters set forth with small skins of

36 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

water strapped under their horses’ bellies, and a scanty allowance of food for four or
five days, distributed judiciously about their saddles. The ostrich generally lives in
companies of from four to six individuals, which do not appear to be in the habit,
under ordinary circumstances, of wandering more than twenty or thirty miles from
their headquarters. When descried, two or three of the hunters follow the herd at a
gentle gallop, endeavoring only to keep the birds in sight, without alarming them or
driving them at full speed, when they would soon be lost to view. The rest of the
pursuers leisurely proceed in a direction at right angles to the course which the ostriches
have taken, knowing by experience their habit of running in a circle. Posted on the
best lookout they can find, they await for hours the anticipated route of the game
calculating upon intersecting their path. “ If fortunate enough to detect them, the re-
lay sets upon the now fatigued flock, and frequently succeeds in running one or two
down, though a horse or two generally falls exhausted in the pursuit. The ostrich,
when overtaken, offers no resistance beyond kicking out sideways. <A skin in full
plumage is worth on the spot from forty to one hundred Spanish dollars; but the
Arabs are in the habit of judiciously thinning the feathers, so that the trader can
rarely obtain a specimen on which this tax has not been paid.”

The chase of wild ostriches for the sake of the feathers will soon become a thing
of the past, however, since now the rational domestication of this valuable bird has
proved a grand success. The natives of some parts of Africa have, in fact, been
practising “ ostrich farming” before white men visited them, and even used artificial
incubation. We are told that tribes of Sudan, the upper Senegal, and the Algerian
frontiers raise their ostriches like real poultry-yard birds. By day the birds wander
about the camp in search of food, and come back again at night-fall to pass the night
under the shelter of their master’s tents. When the tribe is traveling, they follow
faithfully along without ever turning aside, and without evincing the least desire to
return to a wild life. Still this ostrich raising has been quite insignificant, and only a
small fraction of the plumes in the market was due to that source, and it was first
when the European — particularly English — colonists in different parts of Africa com-
menced that remunerative business on a grand scale, that the supply of ostrich-feathers
from tame birds, bred in captivity, became considerable. A few figures will show
the importance of this new branch of “stock” raising, which is hardly twenty years
old, since, in 1865, the English colonies owned only eighty tame ostriches. The value
of the annual yield of feathers in South Africa at the present day is estimated at
about four million dollars, while in 1865 the total export (wild and tame) from the
Cape did not reach one-tenth of that amount.

On an “ostrich farm” the industry is divided into two branches, that of producing
feathers, and of raising young birds. From a recent report on the subject we make
the following interesting extracts: An ostrich is first plucked at the age of six to
eight months, and again six to nine months later, and every succeeding six to nine
months. The chicken feathers are of little value, say about five dollars per bird, but
the next and following pluckings realize from forty to one hundred and fifty dollars
per bird. The length of time between each plucking, the weight of the feathers, and
the richness of the plumage, depend partly upon what care is taken not to extract the
feathers too early, thus causing injury to the wing, but more especially upon the quality
of the pasturage. On good grazing land, one acre is required per bird. The best
mode of plucking the feathers is not to pull them out, but to cut the quill about an
inch from the root, the portion left in the wing speedily “ripens,” and may in a few

OSTRICHES. 37

weeks be pulled out with a pair of pincers, after which the new feather begins to form.
Others advocate a specially constructed box in which the bird cannot move; through
openings in the sides the wings are accessible, and, by a double movement of twisting
and pulling the feathers are drawn.

The ostrich is monogamic, and the hen lays an egg every alternate day in the nest
dug out in the sand by the male, if that hollow can be termed a nest. Ten eges are
probably the average number laid in the wild state, but in captivity the laying may be
continued like that of the common fowl when the eggs are taken away as soon as de-
posited. On the “farm,” the egg which the birds themselves cannot cover may be
hatched artificially in an incubator, the result of which is illustrated by the following
extract from Douglas’s book on “ Ostrich Farming in South Africa”: “One set of three
birds — a cock and two hens—during the period from June 30, 1872, to June 30,
1873, laid 188 eggs, which produced 133 chicks; of these 18 died, leaving 115 young
birds. Of these, 74 were sold at three months old at £16 each, and allowing the
remaining 41 to be worth only £12 each, we have a return of £1,676 from one set of
birds. The next year the same set laid 115 eggs, producing 77 chicks; and the first
six months of the third year they laid 97 eggs, producing 81 chicks, being over 80
per cent.” The eggs vary considerably in size, from 5} inches to 6 inches long, by 44
—54 inches thick, averaging about the weight of 24 eggs of our common fowl. They
are incubated by both parents alternately, the male sitting during the night. In the
hottest countries they are left during part of the day, but are then usually covered up
with sand. An interesting account of the finding of the nest is rendered by Rev. Mr.
Tristram.

“Once, and once only, had I the good fortune to take an ostrich’s nest. We had
observed with our telescopes two birds standing for some time in one spot, and were
induced to ride towards them. By great good fortune we detected their track as we
crossed it; for, the stride of the ostrich often measuring, when at full speed, from 22
to 28 feet, and there being simply the round impression of his two toes, it is very
difficult to discover its course. We traced these steps back to the spot where we had
seen the birds standing, and where the sand was well trodden down. Two Arabs, at
once dismounting, began to dig with their hands, and presently brought up four fine
fresh eggs, from a depth of about a foot under the warm sand.”

Ostrich farming has not only been established in the Cape Colony, but also with
great success in Algeria, and in Buenos Ayres, where the African ostrich has been
introduced. There can be no doubt but that this industry may be carried on with
equal success and profit in our southwestern states, and it is to be hoped that the
experiments now in progress in California may give ample returns, and encourage
others to invest in this novel branch, of “ practical ornithology.”

That the range of the true ostriches at a former geological period was considerably
larger than nowadays is proved by the rather recent discovery of fossil remains of a
species from the Siwalik Hills in India. It is named Struthio asiaticus, and is dis-
tinguished by a stouter neck than the existing species, to which it otherwise is so
closely related that Mr. Lydekker thinks it doubtful whether the slight differences can
be regarded as of more than individual or varietal value.

Though nearer related perhaps to the African than to the Australian Struthiones,
the nandus or South American ostriches are sufficiently remote from all of them to
warrant their separation as a distinct super-family, the RHEOIDE.2. With the latter
the nandus share the character of having three toes, as contrasted with the two toes of

38 YATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

their African relatives. The marks which they have in common with them, and which
consequently distinguishes both these from the cassowaries and emus, besides those
which separate the two inter se, have been pointed out briefly under the head of the
foregoing super-family, with the exception that in the Rheidw the pubes are free, while
the ischia are united in a ventral symphysis, that the maxillo-palatines do not touch
the vomer, and that only a left carotid is present. We shall therefore here only men-
tion a feature shared by no other member of the order, viz., the peculiar and highly
specialized lower larynx. This was first discovered by the French naturalist, Mr. Alix,
in 1874, and afterwards fully described by the late Professor Forbes, who sums up its
most striking characters as follows: “In the possession of a tracheal box formed by
the fusion of the few last tracheal rings, in the greater amount of specialization of
the first two bronchial semi-rings of each side, in the presence of district interamular
membrane-covered fenestra, in the development of a well-marked cartilaginous pes-
sulus, and in the possession of a pair of true intrinsic syringeal muscles running from
the trachea to the bronchial semi-rings, /?hea stands out by itself as sharply opposed to
all the remaining ‘ Ratite’ birds.”

Three species, all from South America, are known at present; the old and rather
well known “ Avestruz” of the Gauchos, and a nearly ally, described about fifteen years
ago by Dr. Sclater, both referable to the restricted genus 2thea, and named respectively
Rhea rhea (ov Rh. americana) and Rh. macrorhyncha. The latter, the true habitat
of which still seems to be doubtful, is considerably smaller, as it stands six inches lower
than the female of the common nandu, but has a much longer bill, and is, besides,
much darker, the top of the head and streaks at the back of the neck in particular
being deep black. Both these are distinguished from AA. darwinti in having seutel-
late tarsi, which in the latter are reticulate. It has therefore been made a separate
genus, Pterocnemia, a further character of which, in addition to several anatomical
differences, is that the leg is plumed below the knee for several inches. The termi-
nal white band on the wing feathers is a striking color mark.

Not only is the nandu the oldest known species, but also the one having the
greatest distribution, occurring as it does, from southern Brazil to Magellan’s Strait.
The general color is a brownish gray, lighter, nearly whitish on the belly; the small
and narrow feathers on the crown, nape, and upper neck, are blackish in the male,
lighter in the female, which is the smaller of the two, the former measuring about six
feet in length, the latter hardly five and a half.

Living on the pampas, and feeding on grasses and seeds of different herbs, and also
on the red berries of the Zmpetrum rubrum, the Thea, like its African cousin, has
chiefly to rely upon its legs and acute sight for escaping danger, but seems to have devel-
oped considerably more intelligence, though he has often to pay the penalty of a too
great curiosity with his life; and Darwin relates how, though fleet in its paces, and
shy in its nature, it yet falls an easy prey to the hunters, who confound it by approach-
ing on horseback in a semicircle. He also states that when pursued it generally
prefers running against the wind, expanding its wing to the full extent. Mr. Barrows
has recently in “The Auk” given some interesting information as to the manner in
which the ‘ Avestruz’ is hunted in Lower Uruguay, as follows: “ During our stay at
Puan, about two hundred Indians united in a two-days’ ostrich-hunt, resulting in the
capture of about sixty birds of all sizes, from the full grown adult down to two-month
‘chicks.’ They begin by beating over a large tract of the plain, and then closing in
around the game started. Stout greyhounds are used to good purpose, usually pulling

OSTRICHES. 39

down the swiftest birds within two miles at farthest. The Indians use the ‘bolas’
with much skill, the one used for ostriches consisting of two half-pound leaden balls,
connected by eight feet of twisted rawhide twine. Whirling this about the head and
‘letting fly’ at the running bird, they often entangle his legs at a distance of thirty to
fifty yards, and I was ¢o/d that it was frequently done at one hundred. Single hunters
stalk ostriches sometimes in the following way: Getting to windward of the bird, the
latter soon scents him and lies down, only sticking up his head above the grass. The
hunter may then creep directly up within shot, if the grass be long enough to shelter
him, and the bird is shot through neck or head before he rises.”

On two oceasions, Mr. Darwin witnessed the 2thea crossing the Santa Cruz river,
where its course was about four hundred yards wide, and the stream rapid. They
made but slow progress, their necks were extended slightly forward, but little of the
body appeared above water. The statement as regards the swimming capacities of
the bird in question has been corroborated by Mr. Cunningham.

The feathers are of little value compared with those of the African ostrich, and
are mainly used for rugs, dusters, brooms, etc.; the yield of a Zea will average about
three pounds, and the value is from one to two dollars per pound on the spot.

The hen lays from ten to twenty-three eggs in the shallow excavation formed by the
male in the ground, and arranged by him with a few leaves and grasses for a nest, but
numerous eggs are also dropped here and there over the plains. That these are des-
tined for food for the young chick is a mere myth. Mr. Darwin’s experience was to
the following effect: At Bahia Blanca, in the months of October and September, an
extraordinary number of eggs were found all over the country. The eggs either lie
scattered about, or are collected together in a shallow excavation or nest; in the for-
mer case they are never hatched, and are termed by the Spaniards Huachos. The
Gauchos unanimously affirmed, and later experience with birds in captivity corrobo-
rates it, that the male bird alone hatches the eggs, and for some time afterwards
accompanies the young. Mr. Darwin also states that the cock bird sits so closely that
he has almost ridden over one on the nest.

Before closing the present account we shall reproduce the yarn told Mr. Barrows
by one of the natives, who thought he had found an explanation of the many eggs
spread over the plains. When an ostrich has built a nest and laid the full number of
eges, he argued, she is naturally anxious to be able to find the nest again after haying
wandered away to any distance. This she manages by simply laying eggs at intervals
of half a mile or so over the adjacent country, placing each egg with its smaller end
pointing directly towards the nest! Ben trovato!!

The “ Avestruz Petise,” as Rh. darwinii is called by the Gauchos, is smaller, and
is said not to expand its wings when running at full speed, as does the common species.
It inhabits Patagonia, from Magellan’s Strait to the Rio Negro.

Both as regards geographical distribution and anatomical peculiarities, the
cassowaries and emus, the superfamily CASUAROIDE., hold a somewhat isolated
position in the present geological period. Most significant, perhaps, is the extreme re-
duction of the fore-extremities, which could hardly become smaller without disappear-
ing altogether externally ; the hand has, moreover, only one claw-bearing finger. They
are furthermore distinguished from the two foregoing groups in that neither pubes
nor ischia unite into a ventral symphysis. The ambiens muscle is absent, though pres-
ent in the other Dromwognath, and the feathers are provided with aftershafts, con-
trary to what is the case in Struthio and Rhea. Both carotids are developed.

40 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The members of this superfamily are at present confined to the Australian and
Indo-Malayan region, but fossil remains have been found in India and also in Europe,
if the so-called Macrornis and Megalornis, from the London clay, really belong
here.

The first family, the Dromanp«, which embraces only the emus, represent
in the Australian deserts and plains the ostriches of Africa and the Rheas of South
America, but are smaller than the former, though larger than the latter, standing,
as they do, about five feet high. As their position within the same superfamily as
the cassowaries indicates, their affinities are with the latter, from which they are
easily distinguished by the absence of the helmet on the top of the head; neither
do they have the spiny rudiments of wing feathers, nor the nail of the inner toe
lengthened unusually; the nostrils are placed near the middle of the beak, and
not in the anterior half of it, as in the cassowaries. The neck and most of the head
are feathered, and the feathers less hair-like. Of anatomical characters may be men-
tioned that the clavicles, though reduced and separate, are less rudimentary than
in the birds composing the following family, and that the femoro-caudal muscle is
absent, while present in the cas-
sowaries.

Not more than two species’
are conceded by the best author-
ities, — the Dromaius nove-
hollandiw, inhabiting eastern
Australia, and 2. irroratus,
from the southern and western
parts of that continent, — both
of a brownish color; the latter
however, with the individual

Fig, 18. — Pelvis of emu (Dromaius nove-hollandie).

feathers of the body distinetly
marked with narrow transverse bars of light grayish and brownish black.

The emu was first described and figured under the name of the New Holland
cassowary in Governor Phillip’s “ Voyage to Botany Bay.” According to Mr. Gould,
“the old Bush-man,” whose account of the Australian birds must be the chief source
and foundation of all information concerning the ornithology of that remarkable
region, during the earlier days of the colony, the emu was universally dispersed
over the whole of the Australian continent. The encroachment of the white man,
however, has now caused its almost extirpation in many parts; though good emu
coursing, which is said to be excellent, and equalling, if not surpassing, the same sport
with the hare in England, may still be had in districts where the settlers have not yet
commenced their merciless war against the native animals. It is stated, however, that
dogs will seldom attack it, both on account of some peculiar odor, and because of the
dangerous injuries it inflicts by striking out with its feet; to avoid which, the well-
trained dogs run up abreast and make a sudden spring at their neck, whereby they are
quickly despatched. Mr. Cunningham asserts that but little of the emu is fit for eculi-
nary use except the hind-quarters, “ which are of such dimensions that the shouldering
of two hind-legs homewards for a mile distance once proved me as tiresome a task as
T ever recollect to have encountered in the colony.”

According to Gould, the only vocal sound the emu has been heard to utter is a low
booming or jumping noise. The eggs are six or seven in number, of a beautiful dark-

CASSOWARIES. 41

green, resembling shagreen in appearance, and measuring five inches and three-quarters
in length. They are merely placed in a cavity scooped in the earth, generally in
a sandy soil. Emus breed readily in captivity, are easily tamed, and will stand a tem-
perate climate very well. The emu is eminently a bird of the plains, and in that
respect wholly different from its near ally, the cassowary, which is the only type of
the order inhabiting the forests. It feeds nearly exclusively upon vegetable matter,
chiefly “fruits, roots, and herbage.”

The recent discovery of a fossil bird of this family in the tertiary deposits of India
is extremely interesting, since it conclusively proves that the emus were formerly not
confined to Australia. The remains — four phalangeal bones—have been referred to
the genus Dromaius with a query, but Mr. Lydekker thinks there is eyery probability
that his D. sivalensis is the ancestral form of the recent bird.

It has been supposed that the bird Aippalectryo, or “horse fowl,” mentioned by
the ancient Greek poet, A’schylos, as pictured on a Persian tapet, is the same which is
now called cassowary or emeu. However, it was not before the close of the sixteenth
century that the western nations of Europe learned of the existence of this remark-
able bird. A live specimen was brought to Amsterdam in 1597 by a Dutch skipper,
and was finally presented to the Roman Emperor as a most valuable and unique gift.

Linnzeus knew only one species, and it was not until recently that many additional
forms were made known, so that not less than about ten species are now admitted by
the latest authorities on the subject. Restricted as the geographical distribution of
the whole family, the Casuarips, is, that of the separate species is still more so, for
the cassowaries are vonfined to the Papuan or Austro-Malayan subregion, eight species
oceurring in the Papuan Islands, while one is a native of the northeastern peninsula of
the Australian mainland, and another belongs to the island of Ceram. Of the eight
Papuan species, five inhabit New Guinea itself, each species, however, its own district,
while of the remaining three, each one occupies an isolated small island, or island
group, of itself, viz., Jobi, Wammer, and Kobroor, of the Aru group, and New Britain.

Contrary to the true ostriches, the nandus, and the emus, the cassowaries are strictly
confined to the dense forests or scrubs, and not to the open plains or deserts. Their
organization, therefore, shows some peculiar modifications not present in the other
birds mentioned. The most obvious feature in this respect is the helmet or horny
casque on the top of the head (the particular use of which will be shown further on)
covering a core of very light spongy bony tissue, with an external layer, no thicker
than fine paper, but nevertheless very firm. The naked parts of the head are more
or less wrinkled and supplied with wattles, and are gayly colored with blue and red,
or blue and yellow. In the rudimentary wing are four to six strong feather-shafts
without barbs, apparently remnants of the remiges of their flying ancestors, but now
from want of use reduced to mere spine-like structures. In a fresh specimen examined
by me, the wing measured four inches, the chord of the nail was two inches, and the
longest shaft fourteen inches. Of the three-toed feet the inner toe is short, but armed
with a long and sharp claw which serves as a formidable weapon. With these external
characters are associated several important anatomical peculiarities, so that the validity
of the family as such cannot well be questioned.

The family is only known to comprise a single genus, of which the species fall in
two groups, according to the shape of the helmet, whether compressed or not. The
species themselves are only slightly differentiated, and the main characters are derived
from the number and form of the wattles, the color of the naked parts, and the out-

42 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

line of the helmet. It is interesting to remark that the two species most distant in
space, and which both occur outside of the Papuan fauna strictly, viz., the Casuarius
casuarius (or galeatus) from Ceram, and C. australis from northern Australia, are
very nearly related and rather difficult to distinguish.

Of the latter species we have an excellent life-history by Mr. E. P. Ramsay, from
whom the following account, which will also serve for the other species, is borrowed:
One of the chief objects of my visit to Rockingham Bay was to become acquainted
with the habits of this noble bird. While in Brisbane on my way up, I found that
several yery young cassowaries had been obtained, and, for the first time, a nest and
eggs had been found. This was great news; and I need not relate how I made all
haste for the Herbert-River Police Camp, where I was most hospitably entertained and
welcomed by Inspector Johnstone, who was the first to rediscover and bring under
the notice of others the existence of this remarkable species.

The Australian cassowary is a denizen of the dense dark scrubs scattered over the
district of Rockingham Bay, northeastern Queensland, and extending as far north as
the Endeavour River. It was tolerably plentiful only a few years ago even in the
neighborhood of Cardwell; but since the advent of sugar-planters, &ec., on the Herbert
River and adjacent creeks, these fine birds have been most ruthlessly shot down and
destroyed for the sake of their skins, several of which I saw used for hearth-rugs and
door-mats. Formerly, they were easily enough procured; but latterly, so wary have
they become, and their numbers so decreased, that it is only with the greatest amount
of patience even a stray shot can be obtained. I know of no bird so wary and timid.
During the day they remain in the most dense parts of the scrubs, wandering about
the sides of the watercourses and creeks, diving in through the bushes and vines at
the slightest noise. ‘Towards evening and early in the morning they usually visit their
favorite feeding-trees, such as the native figs, Leichardt-tree, and various species of
Aemena, Jambosa, Davidsonia, etc.; they appear to be particularly fond of the
astringent fruit of the Leichardt-trees, and of a species of Maranta, which produced
bunches of large seed-pods filled with juicy pulp, resembling in appearance the inside
of a ripe passion-fruit (Passiflora edulis). Fruit and berries of all kinds are eagerly
sought after; the tame semi-adult bird which I had became so fond of the fruit of
the cape-mulberry that he would allow no one to come near the tree he had taken
possession of. This bird had frequently devoured at a time as much as three quarts
of ‘loquats’ (fruit of riobotria japonica), and several fair-sized oranges whole,
besides its usual amount of bread per diem (about three pounds). In nature I found
that in the afternoons they frequently came out and walked along the scrubs, or along
the side of the river or creek, and swallowed large quantities of pebbles and small
rough-edged stones. In confinement, plantains and sweet potatoes (in large pieces
which they can swallow whole) are a favorite food, while nothing seems to come
amiss to them—grasshoppers, spiders, earth-worms, cockroaches, caterpillars of all
kinds, dough, and even raw meat. In confinement they become very tame. If disap-
pointed or teased, they not unfrequently “show fight” by bristling up their feathers,
and kicking out sideways or in front with force sufficient to knock a strong man down
—a feat I have witnessed on more than one oceasion. These birds are very powerful,
and dangerous to approach when wounded. On more than one occasion a wounded
bird has caused a naturalist to take to a tree; the sharp nail of the inner toe is a most
dangerous weapon, quite equal to the claw of a large kangaroo, and capable of doing
quite as much execution.

MOAS. 43

I found the cassowaries to be excellent swimmers, and frequently tracked them
across a good-sized creek or river. Their note, most usually emitted by the male, is a
series of harsh, guttural, prolonged croakings, quickly repeated, and continued for
about three minutes; it is very loud, and may be detected across the water, at a dis-
tance of at least three miles, on a still night. I have listened to its resounding through
the scrubs at a distance of one and one half miles on land, and then thought it close,
and one of the most unearthly noises I ever heard,

They breed during the months of August and September. The nest consists of a
depression among the fallen leaves and debris, always in the most dense part, and well
concealed by entangled masses of vegetation. The eggs were five in number in the
only two instances recorded, and, in both cases, one of the eggs in each set differed
from the other, being of a light-green color, and haying a much smoother shell.

The young are of a dull rusty brown. After the second season, at the age of 18
to 24 months, the black feathers predominate, and the helmet, which has hitherto been
undeveloped, more like the shield of a coot, begins to show a keel or ridge in the centre,
which rapidly inereases in height. The skin round the head begins to become wrinkled
and colored, varying from bluish-green to orange on the lower part, and bright blue on the
sides of the neck, the wattles becoming carmine. The helmet still remains compara-
tively small and undeveloped long after the wattles and naked parts of the neck
become colored. I believe that the helmet does not attain its full size until the fourth
or fifth year at least. In traversing the scrubs the head is carried low to the ground,
and the vines and branches of trees striking the helmet slide over it on to the back.
Otherwise in the dense vine-scrubs bordering the Herbert River and elsewhere, pro-
gress would be greatly impeded; but as it is, the cassowaries traverse the scrubs with
wonderful speed, jumping over fallen trees and logs when in the way.

The Superfamily of extinct birds DINORNITHOIDEY®, which, by some authors
is regarded as having ordinal value, under the name of Immanes, inhabited Australia
and especially New Zealand during a not so very distant period, geologically speaking.
They were first introduced to the scientific world by Professor Richard Owen in 1839,
who designated them by the name Dinornis, giant bird (from the Greek deinos,
tremendous, formidable), and are now generally known as moas, the name used by the
Maori, the natives of New Zealand. Moa is the equivalent of the Polynesian word
“toa,” which means the domestic fowl, —a significant fact, as it shows that the Maoris
found the giant birds alive when they immigrated into the islands.

The moas form one of the most interesting groups in ornithology, not only because
they help to fill a gap between the other Struthious birds, particularly the Casuaroi-
de, and the wonderful kiwis, or Apteryges, but also because they are an extreme
example of the feathered, and therefore originally flying, bird-type, becoming modified
into an animal bound and fitted as exclusively to the ground as the horse or the elephant.
And, elephant-birds, indeed, might we call them, were it not that this name would even
better fit another group of extinct Struthious birds, the Apiornithes from Madagascar.
The moas show the extreme reduction of the wing among birds, their fore-limbs
being nearly as much atrophied as are the hind-limbs of the whale. By long disuse,
the wings, as they became useless for the acquisition of food, and unnecessary for
escaping danger, since no enemies existed, would become enfeebled and ultimately
reduced to mere rudiments, while “the legs, then monopolizing the functions of loco-
motion, would attain, through the concomitant force and frequency of exercise, propor-
tional increase of power and size.” (Owen.)

44 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The bones have been met with under the most different conditions, some scattered
over the surface, others buried loosely in the sand, others in the old native cooking-
places or graves, others again in the alluvium of rivers, marshes, or in caves, sometimes
so numerous that they have been dug out by the ton. The most remarkable find in
that line is the exhumation by Mr. Booth, at Hamilton, of three and a half tons of
moa-bones from a single half-dried lagoon surrounding a spring, the number of bird-
skeletons accumulated there being esti-
mated at more than four hundred. Moa
skeletons are therefore no longer rarities
in the museums; fine collections are in
London, in Vienna, and other European
museums, not to speak of the magnificent
series which are preserved in the colony
itself; also museums in this country have
received valuable material, the American
Museum of Natural History in New York,
however, being in the lead with its elegant
collection of mounted moa skeletons.

Thanks to this ample material we know
the moas pretty well, and about fifteen
species are now recognized. Owing to the
presence of a hind toe, as in the kiwis, a
number of species were first separated by
Owen as a distinet genus, Palapteryx. This

division was carried further by Dr. Haast,
who made Dinornis and Palapterya the
=~ basis of two families, including two addi-
tional genera. Of these Meionornis was

FG. 19.—Dinornis ingens, Moa, from Hochstetter’s restora- made to include the species vex casuarinus

tion. ‘Ibe sinall birds are kiwis. ‘— ie
and didiformis, the former the type of

Reichenbach’s genus Syornis, the latter the type of the same author's Anomalopteryx,
both established in 1852. It is quite probable that the distinction derived from the pres-
ence or absence of a back toe will not hold, as it may have been present in all the species,
though not found with the skeletons, for no safe conclusion can be made from the
absence of an articular surface on the metatarsal bone, as proven by the presence of a
hind toe in D. parvus, notwithstanding the fact that it is not indicated in’ the charac-
ter of the metatarsus.

The Dinornithes are related to the kiwis, together with which they inhabited
New Zealand, as kiwi bones have been found associated with those of the more or
less fossilized moas, but in some characters they agree better with the emus and casso-
waries of the Australian mainland and the Papuan islands, and it is therefore a very
important discovery that remains of moas have also been found in Australia, in a post-
pliocene deposit in Queensland.

The most striking peculiarity of this group is the enormously massive structure of
the hind extremities, which reaches its maximum in J). elephantopus, a name truly
suggestive of the extreme development of the feet. Concomitant with these large
hind limbs is the very rudimentary condition of the fore extremities, which were
nearly obsolete. The front edge of the small, flat, and keelless breast-bone has two

MOAS. 45

small impressions for the rudimentary coracoids, which, in one of the larger species,
are only two inches long, while shoulder-blade and wing-bénes seem to be wholly
wanting. The head is particularly small in the larger
species; D. parvus, the smallest species, has rela-
tively the largest skull.

The size varied very noticeably in the different
species. The smallest (Dinornis parvus) was not
larger than a dodo; others, for instance, D. ingens,
reached the African ostrich in size; D. maximus
was nine or ten feet high ; and other individuals have
been recorded haying a height, when standing erect,
of thirteen to fourteen feet. Two series of different
size have been recognized in various species, and
from the analogy of Apteryx, the larger individuals
are regarded as females.

The eges, a considerable number of which have
been found, were of a dark green color, while others
seem to have been of a paler yellowish tint. Their
volume was considerably greater than that of ostrich
egos, a recently found, nearly perfect, egg measuring
about ten inches in length by seven in breadth, or
“so large that a hat would make a good egg-cup for
it,” but without equalling in capacity those of the
Epiornis. Tn one of them the bones of a young
fetus were found, from which could be demon-
strated that even at that early age the bones be-
longing to the hind extremities were much more
voluminous than in the now existing types of Struthiones.

But not only have the bones and eggs of moas been found in great numbers, but
also single feathers and parts of skeletons, with muscles, shreds of skin, and feathers
adhering, in a remarkable state of preservation.

Some of the feathers were as bright as if they had just been pulled out. They
were double, —in other words, were furnished with an ‘aftershaft,’ resembling some-
what those of the Australian wingless birds. In one species they were of a reddish
brown near the base, passing into black, while the rounded tip was pure white.
Others have been found of a pale yellowish brown color, others again of a blackish
brown. Feathers from a cave near Queenstown were reddish brown with a terminal
dark-brown shaft streak. These large feathers (some measuring as much as six inches)
probably covered the body. A most extraordinary specimen, consisting of seven
vertebree from the lower end of the neck, with their muscles, skin, and feathers,
is so interesting, that we allow ourselves to make an abstract of the best description
accessible to us.

Upon the portion of this specimen corresponding to the first dorsal vertebree, the
skin is seen to be covered with large conical papille which nearly touch each other,
and give the whole the appearance of a rasp. A certain number of these papillse
bear double-stemmed feathers of a reddish-chestnut color, furnished with barbs, and
nearly two inches long. The papille diminish in size, and the feathers in length, on
arriving at the level of the vertebra of the neck. Soon the feathers appear to be

Fig. 20.—Dinornis ingens.

46 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

reduced to mere hairs, and they disappear entirely upon about half the specimen.
There the papillw are much smaller and are distinctly separated from each other.

With the data furnished by the skeletons and the other remains now in the differ-
ent museums, we are enabled to give a pretty reliable picture of these birds, which
probably became extinct before civilized men discovered their native land, supplying
the wanting details from their nearest allies among the living dromzognathous birds.
They are described as representing the general form of the cassowary, but upon a
much larger scale, particularly in regard to the hind extremities, while the anterior
ones were still more abortive. Like the cassowary, they had the greater part of the
neck naked, but were destitute of the bony crest, in this respect resembling the emu.
Very probably the legs were naked, and the body was covered with silky plumes, in
which darker or lighter and more or less reddish tints of brown predominated, varie-
gated with black and white, at least in some species.

To Mr. John White, who devoted more than thirty-five years in collecting all
possible information from the Maori, the natives of New Zealand, and to various other
gentlemen (among them Sir George Grey), the scientific world is indebted for much
valuable information concerning the habits of these birds, derived from the folk-lores,
songs, and proverbs of the natives. Thus the Maori have a proverb, “as inert as a moa,”
which indicates that these birds were sluggish and stupid animals; and the following
life history has been drawn from similar sources. They were essentially sedentary, and
went about in pairs, accompanied by their young. No doubt they sometimes disputed
the field on which they were seeking the same food, for the Maori still, in speaking of
a struggle between two pairs of combatants, say: “Two against two, like the moas.”
Their nests were formed of various dried grasses and fragments of ferns, simply
brought together in a heap. They ate various species of plants growing upon the
borders of the woods and marshes, the young shoots of certain shrubs, ete.; but their
principal food appears to have been the root of a species of fern (Peris esculenta),
which they dug up either with the beak or with the feet. To assist in the grinding of
the food swallowed, the moas, like many other birds, ate small pebbles, which, when
rounded and polished by friction in the stomach, and thus rendered unfit for further
service, they disgorged, just as do the ostrich and the emu. These “ moa-stones” are
found in great numbers, often in small heaps near skeletons, in a position indicating
the place of the gizzard, thus proving that the bird died on the spot where the skeleton
is now found.

Being the only large indigenous warm-blooded animal, the moa was, of course,
eagerly hunted by the Maori, although Mr. White writes that they were afraid of it,
as a kick from the foot of one would break the bones of the most powerful brave ;
hence the people made strong spears of maire, or manuka wood, six or eight feet
long, the sharp end of which was cut so that it might break and leaye six or eight
inches of the spear in the bird. Before the chase, the hunters engaged in prayers,
invoking the assistance of those spirits to whom they attributed the power of sending
good or ill fortune, supplicating, for instance, the “mist of the hills where the chase
was to take place so to act that the fat of the birds may flow like the drops of dew
which falls from the leaves of the trees at the dawn of a summer day; or the god of
silence to keep the moas free from apprehension and fright.” Some of the hunters
would then conceal themselves behind the scrub on the side of the track (many of
which are still visible, being about sixteen inches wide, and of a seemingly fresh
appearance), while others drove them from the lakes towards the ambush. “ Here the

4EPIORNITHES. 47

spears were thrown at them, and the scrub on the sides of the track would catch the
spears and break the jagged end off, leaving it in the bird. As it had to pass many
men, the broken spear-points caused it to yield in power when it had gained the open
fern-country, where it was attacked in its feeble condition by the most daring of the
tribe.” The killed bird was cut up with a knife of obsidian, made for that exclusive
use, and which only served a single time. “What wild, weird scenes,’ exclaims
Russell, “those deep valleys of the southern Alps must bave witnessed, when, after
the successful hunt, the natives gathered about their camp-fires, that lit up their dark
tattooed faces, and shone on the strange vegetation around, to feast on the flesh of moa,
or partake of its huge eggs, roasted on the hot stones of the oven!”

It will be perceived from many of the facts related above that the extermination
of the giant-birds of New Zealand cannot have taken place at a very distant period.
Dr. Haast, on the contrary, has taken the position that the moas were extinct before
the immigration of the Maori race, which now inhabits the islands, occurred, and that
these huge birds had been exterminated by an aboriginal people which he calls the
“moa-hunters.” This theory has been successfully opposed by Mantell, Dr. Hector,
Hochstetter, and especially by Mr. A. de Quatrefages, from whose interesting memoir
(1883) much of the above has been borrowed. We may perhaps not be prepared to
accept as fully trustworthy the testimony of Haumataugi, the old Maori, who in 1844
related that during his childhood he had seen living moas, a statement which would
bring the year of extinction down to about 1770 or 1780; still we cannot doubt that
the extinction took place at a comparatively recent date, as it is otherwise impossible
to account for the discovery of remains of soft tissue in such a condition that the
muscles could still be dissected ; especially if we remember that the climate of New
Zealand is mild and moist, conditions favorable to a speedy dissolution of the ear-
casses. We may finally record the view of a man who, more than anybody else, has
a right to be heard in this question, viz., Professor Richard Owen. As late as 1882 he
expresses the opinion that “in the remote, well-wooded, and sparsely populated dis-
tricts of the southern division of New Zealand, a recovery of a still-existing specimen
of moa might be less unlikely than that of the otornis, also originally recognized by
fossil remains.”

OrpDER II. — HPIORNITHES. 2

Eleven years after the discovery of Dinornis had been announced by Owen in
England, some few remains of a not less gigantic bird from Madagascar reached the
museum at Paris, and two days after, on the 27th of January, 1851, Isidore Geoffrey-
Saint-Hilaire read before the Parisian Academy of Sciences a paper, in which he
described two enormous eggs and part of the metatarsus of a bird which he called
Epiornis maximus, meaning “the bird big as a mountain.”

This brought again to mind the old story of the famous Venetian traveler, Marco
Polo, who located the rue or roc, the giant bird of the Arabian tales, upon Madagas-
ear, and related that the Great Khan of the Tartars, having heard of the bird, sent
messengers to Madagascar, who brought back a feather nine spans long, and two palms
in cireumference, at which His Majesty expressed his unfeigned delight. This, like so
many others of his strange tales, had been regarded as a fable, but now there were
enough of believers who were satisfied that the egg of the rue had been found; foi
the eggs exhibited measured nearly 34 inches in circumference, and would hold
more than two gallons: in other words, had a capacity of nearly 150 hen’s eggs,

48 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

or 17 cassowary’s eggs, or 6 ostrich eggs! The length measured 12.6 inches, the
breadth 8.6 inches, and the shell had a thickness of 0.11 of an inch. No wonder that
the natives employed them for different domestic purposes. In fact, the first knowl-
edge of the eggs was received when some Madagascar natives came to Mauritius to
buy rum, bringing piornis eggs with them to hold the liquor. This led to inquiries,
and two eggs and some fragments of bones were obtained by Mr. Malavois, and sent
to Paris. Since that time other remains, which have furnished the material for
Alphonse Milne Edwards’s investigations, published in 1869 and 1873, were discovered
by Grandidier and others.

It has been shown that the earlier calculations of the size of A2piornis were much
too high, and that 2. maximus in reality was not taller than a large African ostrich,
notwithstanding the enormous size of the egg, and that the smallest of the three
species known, 72. modestus, was not much larger than the great bustard. The more
astounding is the stoutness and massiveness of the hind extremities, which were still
more ‘elephantine’ than those of the elephant-footed moa. The characters of the
bones at once refer the elephant-birds of Madagascar to the neighborhood of the
ostriches and moas, particularly the former; and, as they seem to have had only three
toes, Professor Bianconi’s idea that they were rapacious, or rather condor-like, birds
—the rue was said to be a bird of that order —is not well founded. An additional
proof is that the microscopic examination of the egg, according to Nathusius, shows
an approach to that of Struthio, and bears no resemblance to that of the larger
raptores.

The chief characters of the bones known are the remarkable widening and flatten-
ing of the metatarsal bone; the enormous size of the leg-bone, which is over 25 inches
long, with a circumference at its upper extremity of 18 inches, while the bone at its most
contracted portion is only 6 inches round, thus showing a singular enlargement of the
articular ends; it differs from the same bone in the Dinornithoidex in having no
osseous bridge over the groove of the extensor muscle of the toes, in this respect
agreeing with the existing Struthiones. The thigh-bone was of singular proportions,
being of extraordinary thickness, while in length it does not measure one half more
than its lower extremity; it was pneumatic, contrary to what exists in Apteryx and
Dinornis.

The natives of Madagascar assert that a few of the giant birds are still alive in
some of the most secluded and unexplored parts of the island, and occasionally an
excitIhg report of some traveler having been in the neighborhood of them reaches us
through the newspapers, but the probability is that they are totally exterminated, and
without doubt by the hand of man, as the famous French traveler Alfonse Grandidier
emphatically assures us; but there are reasons to believe that the report of some
having been still alive not more than two hundred years ago is not entirely unfounded.
The whole history of the A2piornithes, the enormous, massive Struthious birds, con-
fined to a large island in the southern seas, and extinguished by the action of man, is
a remarkable counterpart of that of the moas on New Zealand.

Orver III.— APTERYGES.

The English naturalists who, about seventy years ago, received the first kiwi
skin from New Zealand through Captain Barclay, of the ship ‘Providence,’ were
greatly perplexed as to the relationship of that singular bird, not larger than a hen, and
which had no wings, was covered with hair-like feathers, possessed a long beak with

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KIWIS. 49

the nostrils placed at the tip, and had four toes. Latham called it the “apterous pen-
euin,” since it had four toes and no wings, remarking, however, that “the form of the
foot is not greatly unlike that of the dodo, and in the above specimen the toes were
not connected by an intervening membrane; yet from certain inequalities on the sides
it is possible that there may have been one, and that it had been eaten away by
insects.” Shaw, making it the type of the genus Apterya, ‘the wingless bird,’ did
not remove it from the neighborhood of the penguins, pointing to the fact that the bill
also was “somewhat in the form of that of the Patagonian penguin.” Temminck
united Apteryx and Didus, the dodo, into a separate “ order,” the “Inertes,” but
«could not find amore conyenient place for these two genera than by associating them
in some way or another with the penguins.” It was not before Yarrell in 1833
described the curious bird, that its true nature as a near ally of the Struthious birds
was generally understood and admitted. Numerous specimens of kiwis (Fig. 19),
have since been obtained, and not less than four living species are now represented in the
different museums, while a fifth one (A. maaima, the largest one, being of the size of a
turkey) is only known from remains of a skin forming part of a Maori-chief’s dress.
We have now also full and excellent descriptions of the internal anatomy of these
birds from the master-hands of Richard Owen and Huxley, besides not less valuable
information concerning their habits and way of living, as observed by such men as
Dr. Buller and the other New Zealand naturalists of recent fame.

Like the other related birds, the kiwis are dromeognathous, but the vomer unites
with the palatines and pterygoids, contrary to what is the case in the ostrich; there
are no clavicles at all, and the arm, or wing, is rudimentary, as in the Casuaroidez, the
hand having only one ungual phalanx, which is provided with a long external claw ;
like the latter, they have both ischium and pubis free except in front. The ambiens
muscle is strong, as in Struthio and Phea, while it is absent in Caswarius and Dromaius.
It was long believed that the respiratory system was quite peculiar, and more especially
that the kiwis possessed a kind of diaphragm corresponding to the membrane dividing
the cavity of the body in mammals, but quite recent investigations of Professor Hux-
ley show that the respiratory organs on the whole are like those of most other birds,
and that the diaphragm is a myth, there being not a trace of such a membrane. Only
the left carotid is present, there being two in other Struthious birds except Lthea.
The most noteworthy external features are the long snipe-like bill, with nostrils open-
ing near the end; the rudimentary wing, which supports a row of numerous rudimen-
tary quills, evidently degraded rectrices; absence of separate tail-feathers; presence
of a short, elevated hind toe; finally, a covering of more or less bristly feathers with
downy bases, but without aftershafts, in this respect differing highly from the cassowa-
ries, emus, and moas; the fore part of the head and sides of the face are beset with
straggling hairs, or feelers, varying in length from one to six inches.

Dr. Buller says that a full and complete history of the wingless birds which,
even to the present day, form the most distinctive feature in the avi-fauna of New
Zealand, would necessarily fill a volume. We shall therefore here only remark that
of the four existing well-known species, one, A. mantelli, inhabits the North Island
alone; two others, A. australis and haasti are confined to the South Island, while
A. oweni is found on both islands. The general color is a dull mottled brownish or
grayish, the latter and smaller species being rather gray, and therefore usually
called the gray kiwi. A. Aaasti is the “roa-roa,” of the natives, and is the larger
one. The two other species can hardly be told apart by sight alone, but are said

VOL. Iv.—4

50 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

to be readily distinguished by the touch; for in the South Island kiwi (4. australis)
the feathers of the upper parts feel soft and yielding when stroked against the
grain, whereas in Mantell’s kiwi, from the North Island, the feathers have stiffened
points, and are harsh and prickly to the touch, owing to a peculiarity in the structure
of the shaft.

The kiwis are nocturnal birds, the different species having nearly identical habits,
and the following life history of the commonest species, A. mantelli, which we borrow
from Buller’s excellent account, will therefore also cover the other.

Of a bird kept in captivity, he writes. It appears to be blinded by the strong glare
of sunlight, and although it recovers itself in the shade, it can then only detect objects
that are near. Night is the time of its activity, and the whole nature of the bird then
undergoes a change. Coming forth from its diurnal retreat full of animation, it moves
about the aviary unceasingly, tapping the walls with its long, slender bill, and probing
the ground in search of earth-worms. The feeding of this bird at night with the
large glow-worm is a very interesting sight. This annelid, which often attains a
length of twelve, and sometimes twenty inches, with a proportionate thickness, emits
at night a bright phosphoric light. The mucous matter which adheres to its body
appears to be charged with the phosphorus, and on its being disturbed or irritated, the
whole surface of the worm is illumined with a bright green light, sufficiently strong to
render adjacent objects distinctly visible. Seizing one of these large worms in its long
mandibles, the kiwi proceeds to kill it by striking it rapidly on the ground, or against
some hard object. During this operation the bird may be clearly seen under the phos-
phoric light ; and the slime which attaches itself to the bill and head renders these
parts highly phosphorescent, so that, even after the luminous body itself has been
swallowed, the actions of the bird are still visible. There is no longer the slow and
half stupid movements of the head and neck; but the bill is darted forward with a
restless activity, and travels over the surface of the ground with a continued sniffing
sound, as if the bird were guided more by scent than by sight in its search for food.
Of some young birds he remarks that they are particularly savage, using their feet as
weapons of offence, and manifesting their anger by an audible snapping of the bill;
at other times they emitted a peculiar chuckle, but only once he heard them produce
the loud whistling ery which is so familiar to the ear in the wild mountain-haunts of
the kiwi. They often huddled together when at rest, laying one upon another, like
little pigs; and when sound asleep no amount of noise would rouse them.

The kiwi, Dr. Buller continues, is in some measure compensated for the absence of
wings by its swiftness of foot. When running, it makes wide strides, and carries the
body in an oblique position, with the neck stretched to its full extent and inclined for-
wards. In the twilight it moves about cautiously, and as noiselessly as a rat, to which
indeed, at this time it bears some outward resemblance. In a quiescent posture, the
body generally assumes a perfectly rotund appearance; and it sometimes, but only
rarely, supports itself by resting the point of the bill on the ground. It often yawns
when disturbed in the daytime, gaping its mandibles in a very grotesque manner.
The story of its striking the ground with its feet to bring the earthworms to the sur-
face, which appears to have gained currency among naturalists, is as fanciful as the
statement of a well-known author that it is capable of “inflicting a dangerous blow,
sometimes even killing a dog.”

While hunting for its food, the bird makes a continual sniffing sound through the
nostrils. Whether it is guided as much by touch as by smell, I cannot safely say; but

TINAMOUS. 51

it appears to me that both senses are called into action. It is probable that, in addi-
tion to a highly developed olfactory power, there is a delicate nervous sensitiveness in
the terminal enlargement of the upper mandible. It is interesting to watch the bird,
in a state of freedom, foraging for worms, which constitute its principal food; it
moves about with a slow action of the body, and the long, flexible bill is driven into
the soft ground, generally home to the very root, and is either immediately withdrawn
with a worm held at the extreme tip of the mandibles, or it is gently moved to and
fro, by an action of the head and neck, the body of the bird being perfectly steady.
On getting the worm fairly out of the ground, it throws up its head with a jerk, and
swallows it whole.

The enormous size of the kiwi’s egg has often been the subject of speculation and
comment, for, until the fact was established beyond all question, it seemed almost
impossible that the very large eges oceasionally brought in by the natives were the
produce of this bird. The evidence has been furnished by eggs laid in the Zoological
Gardens, and by another taken in utero. One of the former is stated to have weighed
144 ounces, or about one fourth of the bird’s own weight. The probability is that the
male alone sits on the egg. The kiwis are monogamic.

OrpEerR IV.—CRYPTURI.

Even the older authors were aware of some of the Struthious features of these
small South American ground-birds, which usually are referred to the Gallinaceous
order. Illiger remarked as early as 1811 that “the bill is wonderfully conformable with
that of Zea,” and later on (1835) Sundevall stated that they “recall small ostriches.”
Their small size, and a certain superficial resemblance to the gallinaceous birds pre-
vented the recognition of their true nature until Parker’s celebrated anatomical
monograph appeared in 1865. The presence of a crest on their breast-bone, however,
seemed to Huxley to be so strong a character, that he would not admit them to the
division including the ostriches, and so he made of them a separate order, the distine-
tive feature of which was the predominance of Struthious characters. We have
stated above, why the presence or absence of a keel to the sternum seems to us to be
a matter of only slight consequence, particularly when seeing that most of the other
characters of importance are chiefly struthionine. That certain birds of other orders
for instance, Dendrortyx, Hemipodius, Syrrhaptes, the rails, and the ployers, present
characters to a certain degree also found in the Crypturi, is quite natural, as these
forms are comparatively generalized and therefore possess the reptilian features of
the common ancestors less obscured than their more specialized relatives of the
Euornithie series or super-order. It is therefore not quite correct to say that the
Crypturi are intermediate between the Struthious and the Gallinaceous birds, when
the fact is that the latter are intermediate between their own and the Dromog-
nathous birds’ common ancestors, on the one hand, and those of the rest of the
Euornithes on the other.

Not only is the bill struthionine, but still more so the palatal arrangement, for the
broad coalescing vomer in front joins the end of the broad maxillo-palatines, receiving
behind the hinder end of the palatines (which do not articulate with the basisphenoid),
and the anterior ends of the pterygoids. Another struthious feature is that the head
of the quadrate bone is single. Notwithstanding the fact that the wings of the
tinamons, as the birds of this order are called, are functional, the shoulder-girdle and
the sternum present enough characters to show that they have “not escaped from the

52 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

struthious group, yet,” as Parker puts it. According to this authority, the wings also
seem to be struthious rather than gallinaceous, for in the humerus the crest for the
insertion of the pectoralis major is not turned over as in the fowl; this answers to
the extreme (struthious) thinness of that muscle in the tinamou, this bird having but
little power to depress his wings. He can elevate them, however. It is highly inter-
esting, he says, to see the tinamou /i/t his
Wings, just in the same manner as the ostrich
elevates hers. The tinamou’s “organs of
flight” are still much more rudimentary
than those of the fowl, seeing that they are
constructed far more for elevation than
for depression, the latter movement being
the one so necessary to flight.

Again the pelvic arch presents the very
mark common to the birds we have hitherto
treated of, namely, that the ischium is not
united with the backward extension of the
ilium by bone, as is the case in all other
birds. To the struthious character of the
breast-muscles corresponds peculiarities of
the muscles of the legs, of which the ac-
cessory femoro-caudal has a slip arising
above the sciatic foramen, found elsewhere,
according to Garrod, only in the Struthiones.
Finally, Dr. Nathusius has found that the
minute structure of the tinamou egg-shells
is quite different from those of the true Gal-
line, in that respect showing most resem-
blance to Apteryx.

Among external characters may be men-
tioned that the bill is depressed, and the
mouth split open to under the eyes; the
head is comparatively small, the neck
rather long and narrow. The wings are
short and rounded, the tail feathers con-

cealed under the coverts, or altogether absent. The feet are provided with a rather
short hind toe, eleyated from the ground. Powder-downs are present among the
feathers, and in some the feathers have aftershafts.

Several genera with a number of species, about fifty, distributed in two sub-families,
are recognized from Central and South America, where they are usually known as
Perdiz, partridge, being in fact, as game birds, a kind of substitutes for true Galline.
Their size ranges between that of a ruffed grouse and a ring plover. They are emi-
nently ground-birds, which never perch on trees or shrubs.

The largest and best known species is the Perdiz grande or ? Ynambu (2/yncho-
tus rufescens) from Brazil southward. It is of a rusty yellow, banded crosswise
on the upper surface with blackish; bill rather long, with the nostrils in the basal
part, hind toe well developed, and tail feathers short and soft. Mr. Hudson, having
the opportunity of studying the habits of several species of tinamou, has published

Fig. 21.—Crypturus megapodius.

TINAMOUS. 53

some interesting sketches, from which the following concerning the present species is

selected : —

This bird has no cover but the giant grasses, through which it pushes like a rail,
and wherever the country is settled it soon disappears. It is solitary in its habits, con-

NAAN

Fig. 22. — Rhynchotus rufescens, Perdiz grande, l’ Ynambu.

ceals itself in the grass very closely, and flies with great reluctance. I doubt if there is
arfywhere a bird with such a sounding flight as this ; and I can only compare the whirr
of its wings to the rattling of a light vehicle driven at great speed over a hard road.

From the moment. it
rises till it again
alights, there is no
cessation in the rapid
vibration of the wings;
but, like a ball thrown
by the hand, the bird
goes gradually sloping
towards the earth, the
distance it is able to
accomplish at a flight

FiG. 23.—Pelvis of Tinamus robustus ; a, acetabulum ; i/, ilium ; is, ischium ; p, pul

being from fifteen hundred to two thousand yards. This flight it can repeat, wh n
driven up again, as many as three times, after which the bird can rise no more. rhe

54 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

call is composed of five or six long notes, with a mellow, flute-like sound, and so
impressively uttered and sweetly modulated, that it is, perhaps, the sweetest bird-
music heard in the Pampas.

The tinamous are considered rather stupid birds, and Darwin relates of another
species, Nothura major, which is smaller, has a short bill, and no tail, that a man on
horseback, by riding round and round in a circle, or rather in a spiral, so as to approach
closer each time, may knock on the head almost as many as he pleases. The more
common method is to catch them with a noose, or little lasso, made of the stems of an
ostrich’s feather, fastened to the end of a long stick. A boy on a quiet old horse will
frequently thus catch thirty or forty in a day.

The smallest species is the Ynambu carapé (Zaoniseus nanus) from Brazil and
Paraguay, it being only six inches long. It has no rectrices, but the coverts are dense
silky, and greatly elongated so as to form a kind of a train. It seems to be still more
unable to keep up a continued flight than the L?/ynchotus ; but little is known of its
habits beyond Azara’s account.

The foregoing birds, together with most of the species composing the family,
belong to the group Tinamine. In the martineta (Calopezus elegans) we have a
representation of the Tinamotine. Mr. Hudson dissected a specimen, and found
a most extraordinary structure of the intestinal canal, which he describes as divided
near the stomach into a pair of great ducts that extend almost to the entire length of
the abdominal cavity, and are thickly set with rows of large, membranous, clam-shaped
protuberances. Externally, the martineta, from size and mottled plumage, somewhat
resembles the 2/ynchotus, but is less reddish, and has a shorter bill, while its head is
ornamented with a long, slender crest, “ which, when excited, the bird carries direct for-
ward, like a horn.” Mr. Hudson remarks further that it is found in the northwestern
portion of the Plata States, and south to the Rio Negro of Patagonia, frequenting the
elevated table-lands, where- patches of scattered dwarf scrub occur among the close
thickets, and subsisting on seeds and berries. They go in coveys of from half a dozen
to twenty individuals, and, when disturbed, do not usually take to flight, but start up
one after another, and run off with amazing swiftness. They are extremely fond of
dusting themselves.

OrvEer. —GASTORNITHES.

In March, 1855, it was announced to the French Academy of Sciences that M.
Gaston Planté had found in the conglomerate underneath the plastic clay at Bas-
Meudon, France, a leg-bone of a gigantic bird, to which Mr. Hérbert gave the name
Gastornis parisiensis, “in order to indicate both the name of the discoverer and the
locality where it was found.” Shortly after, a thigh-bone was discovered, only three
metres distant from the place where the leg-bone had been found. These remains,
from the lowest eocene beds, were conscientiously studied by several savants, but the
great difference in their conclusions did not throw much light upon the affinities
of the bird. Mr. Hérbert, Milne-Edwards, and Lemoine came to the conelusion that
Gastornis — or rather its legs — showed relationship to the Lamellirostres, or the duck
order. Valenciennes referred it to the neighborhood of the albatrosses, while Lartet and
Owen demonstrated some points of resemblance to the waders, particularly the rails.

Recently additional material was discovered by the indefatigable Dr. Lemoine,
of Reims, France, who has been enabled to describe two other species of Gastornis, G.
minor and G. edwardsii, the former, however, from the fragment of a leg-bone only,

GASTORNITHES. 55

while numerous bones, and fragments of bones, of the latter, have been preserved.
Both were found in lower tertiary deposits near Reims, and from the same geological
horizon as the typical species, and in 1883 L. Dollo announced a thigh-bone from
the same formation in the neighborhood
of Mons, Belgium. Upon these fossils is
based the restoration represented in the
accompanying cut, in which the shaded
portions indicate the parts which have
been found. The most unique and re-
markable character of the bird is said to
be the distinctness in the adult bird of the
sutures between the different bones of the
skull, since in all other known birds these
bones are anchylosed, and the sutures ob-
literated. This feature alone justifies the
view that Gastornis is a peculiar type of
at least ordinal rank, which accordingly has
been attributed to it here. On the other
hand, we cannot assign it a place very re-
mote from the dromeognathous birds, with
which the pelvic remains and the anterior
extremities seem to indicate relationship.
It may be that here is a representative of
the ancestral stock from which flamingos,
screamers, and ducks have sprung, or rather
a form which takes the same position to the
latter forms as do the Crypturi to the Galli-
naceousbirds. The true position of this type
is impossible to make out at present, how-
ever, and it has therefore been placed atthe ,.,.
end of the series called Dromeognathe.

Before closing the chapter of the Dromeognathous birds we may mention a few
fossil remains which seem to belong to this group, the greater abundance of which dur-
ing former geological periods is evident.

Professor Brandt has described a gigantic egg found in an old watercourse on the
steppes of southern Russia. It had a capacity of about forty-two hens’ eggs, and
showed distinct struthious characters. He called the supposed bird Struthiolithus
chersonensis. It may have been related to Gastornis.

The Diatryma giganteum, from the eocene of New Mexico, was described by
Professor Cope from a tarsus-metatarsus discovered by himself. “The characters of
its proximal extremity resemble in many points those of the order Cursores (repre-
sented by the Struthionide and Dinornis), while those of the distal end are, in the
middle and inner trochlew, like those of the Gastornis of the Paris basin. Its size
indicates a species with feet twice the bulk of those of the ostrich.” The discovery
introduces this group of birds to the known faunw of North America recent and
extinct, and demonstrates that this continent has not been destitute of the gigantic
forms of birds heretofore chiefly found in the faune of the southern hemisphere.

Lreonuarp STEJNEGER.

24.— Gastornis edwardsii, as restored by L. Dollo.

56 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Super-—OrpDeErR II].—IMPENNES.

This group, which, for reasons given further on, we here propose to treat as a
superorder equivalent to the Dromognathe (ostriches, ete.) and Euornithes (including
the rest of the living birds), has suffered a curious fate under the hands of ornitholo-
gists. Although one of the most distinct and peculiar divisions within the homo-
geneous bird-class, its position among the other groups has, until lately, been a very
subordinate one.

Linnzeus did not even recognize the penguins as a separate genus. He placed one of
these fin-winged species together with the swift-flying sun-birds, or tropic-birds, while
another was ranked with the albatross. Brisson, the great contemporaneous ornithol-
ogist, however, made both those species types of separate genera, the latter of the
genus Spheniscus, the former he called Catarractes. They were shortly after com-
bined, by Forster and Gmelin, with other species into the genus Aptenodytes.
The efforts of Cuvier and the ornithologists of his age resulted in the cutting up of
Linnzus’s ‘families, —as his ‘ordines’ were styled at that time,—into several
orders, the Natatores, among which the penguins had been placed, being divided in
Pinnipedes (Steganopodes), Macropteres (Longipennes), Serrirostres (Lamellirostres)
and Brachypteres (Pygopodes), and among the latter were placed the divers, auks,
and penguins as genera of equal rank. A decided progress was made by Illiger in
1811, who divided the ‘order’ Natatores in six families, the last being the Impennes,
which only included the genus Aptenodytes. But when Vigors in 1825 established the
families ending in id@#, the penguins were again included among the ‘ Aleide,
Bonaparte, soon after (1831), made them the types of the family Spheniscids, a posi-
tion they held for nearly forty years without any serious challenge, as even Huxley
failed to recognize their true position, assigning them, as he did, a place as a
‘family’ of equal taxonomic value with the plovers, cranes, gulls, ete. G. R. Gray
had placed the penguins between the auks and the guillemots, consequently between
two groups the typical species of which (the razor-billed auk, and the common guil-
lemot), by many prominent ornithologists of the present day, are regarded as not
even generically distinct; but it was not before he (in 1871) repeated this master-
piece of systematical perversity, that it became evident to all that the true relation-
ship of these remarkable birds had been grossly misunderstood. Nevertheless, the
rank of ‘order’ was all that could be afforded at the time, and it is not until very
recently that it has been set clearly forth that the penguins, notwithstanding the keel
on their breast-bone, are as remote from the other Carinatie (birds with keeled sternum)
as these are from the ostriches, if not more so.

We have discussed this point at some length because of the interesting parallelism
it presents with the fate of the Struthious birds, which at times also have been treated
as a genus merely under different families, or orders eyen (Cursores; Otidide), until
the truth of their distinctness was recently acknowledged. The assertion of Profes-
sor Huxley, that the extinct great auk (Plautus impennis) “shows itself to be an
almost intermediate form” between the penguins and the auks, for a short while pre-
vented the full recognition of the broad gap between the former and the rest of the
living birds, but recent investigations show quite an opposite result.

In 1883 Professor Watson, in the seventh volume of the Report on the Results of
the Challenger Expedition, presented an excellent “ Report on the Anatomy of the

PENGUINS. 57

Spheniscidee,” from which, on account of the importance of determining the rela-
tionship of the higher group of birds, we shall quote freely in the following.

The vertebral column is characterized by the opisthoccelous character of the dor-
sal vertebrae, a character which, judging from the frequeney of its occurrence in the
two groups, is more truly reptilian than avian, and by the mobility of
the dorsal vertebre upon one another, and the absence, even in the
adult, of that complete anchylosis between the dorsal and lumbo-
sacral vertebre on the one hand, and of the latter with the pelvic
bones on the other, which obtains in the majority of birds. The
opisthoceelous character of the vertebrie shows itself for the first time
in the third dorsal; the cervical and the two first dorsal vertebrae being
saddle-shaped. The succeeding dorsals differ in having the ante-
rior surfaces rounded and globular, while their posterior surfaces are
deeply concave. The lumbo-sacral portion of the vertebral column
never becomes anchylosed with the pelvic bones, not even in the
adult (Fig. 25). The pubis does not coalesce with the ischium, ex-
cept where it enters the acetabulum.

The uncinate processes of the ribs are exceptionally large, and pig. os pelvis of
are only connected with the ribs by articulations, never becoming Reap A HT ss
anchylosed with them as in the majority of birds.

The shoulder-blade (Fig. 26) is remarkable for its enormous size and its great
width posteriorly, and the coracoid bone for its great strength. The most characteris-
tic feature of the wing, as a whole, is perhaps the great amount of compression exhib-
ited by all its bones, offering, when the wing-paddle is
earried forward while swimming, the minimum resist-
ance to the surrounding water. Furthermore, the Ps
movements permissible between the different bones are <
much more limited than in other birds —so much so
that flexion and extension in the joints ‘beyond the
shoulder ean scarcely be said to be possible. These articulations, however, admit of a
very considerable amount of rotation, converting the wing into a serew-like blade. The
wings are never used as oars, but are brought into use alternately. The metacarpal
consists of a single bone, which shows, however, the three elements of which it is
composed. The first or radial metacarpal is destitute of any phalanx, and the pollex
is consequently absent; the second finger has two phalanges, and the third only one.

The legs are less modified than the wings, but the tarso-metatarsus presents fea-
tures which serve at once to distinguish that bone from the corresponding skeletal
element of any other group of birds, being altogether shorter and
broader than in these, with the single exception of the genus /regata.
From Fregata, however, as from all other birds, the penguin is dis-
tinguished by the clearly-defined separation of the metatarsal elements,
the shafts of which are differentiated from one another, while in other
birds these bones are indistinguishably fused together. Of the other
bones, only the patella is remarkable, it being very large and wedge- py. or — right
shaped, with a greatly developed groove for the tendon of the amliens a
muscle. Four toes are always present, the hallux being directed forward.

It has been suggested to me, Professor Watson further says, that the large devel-
opment of the cutaneous muscles in these birds is probably 2 means whereby water

=3

FiG. 26. —Scapula of Catarractes.

58 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

may be readily expelled from the interstices of the plumage so soon as the bird quits
the water. Were it otherwise, in the low temperature of the Antarctic region, which
the majority of these birds inhabit, the plumage would soon be frozen into an icy
mass, the high temperature of the bird being of itself insufficient to obviate this,
although assisted by the great development of the subcutaneous fatty layer, which far
exceeds in thickness that of the corresponding structure in the member of any other
group of birds, and recalls to mind the fatty deposit or ‘blubber’ of the seals and
cetaceans.

The cutaneous system is thoroughly characteristic of the group, and differs from
that of every other order of birds, in respect of the uniform distribution of the
feathers over every part of the integument, and in the consequent absence of the bare
tracts or apteria met with in other birds. The feathers, which are narrow and rigid,
each possess an aftershaft. The remiges are not distinguishable from the surrounding
feathers, but the rectrices are clearly differentiated.

OrpER V.—PTILOPTERI.

The superorder Impennes only comprises one order, the Ptilopteri, and the order
again only one family, the Spueniscipx, the remnant of a group of birds, which, at an
earlier date of the earth’s history probably played a more important réle than nowa-
days, when they are represented by only a few genera with hardly more than twenty
species and subspecies.

Being adapted in the highest degree to the life in the water, the penguins represent
among the birds the seals among the mammals, and curious indeed are the many fea-
tures in which the two groups show parallel developments both in structure and habits,
and particularly striking is the analogy with the eared seals, which chiefly inhabit the
southern hemisphere, like the penguins, the distribution of which is exclusively con-
fined to that part of the globe. It is a significant fact that the penguins are totally
absent from all seas washing the shores of continents or continent-like islands, where
no members of the Struthious superorder are now living, or have existed during the
present geological period.

Like the fur-seal and its allies, the penguins pass the greater time of their lives on
the ocean, heedless of storm and waves; down into the deep they go in pursuit of
their food, and down they go into the quiet regions never stirred up by any hurricane,
if the surface is getting too turbulent, though it must be hard weather indeed when a
penguin goes in search of shelter, for he enjoys the wildest surf and loves the roaring
gale. The swimming of the penguins is quite peculiar, and differs widely from the same
movement as performed by all other swimming and diving birds. It has already been
remarked that the paddle-shaped wings are brought in motion alternately, thus acting
like a screw, but while in other birds the legs also come into play at least as accessary
propulsive organs when the bird is diving, these organs in the penguins only act as a
rudder, except when swimming on the surface of the water.

Neither are the legs very well adapted for rapid locomotion upon land, for the
leg proper is almost wholly included within the skin of the body, and the foot is broad
and clumsy, and the metatarso-phalangeal articulations so stiff that the whole tarsus
is applied to the ground when the bird is walking, a condition unknown among other
birds. The penguins are plantigrade, and their peculiar upright position when on
land is due to that unique arrangement. It is mainly for the purpose of propagation
that their legions go ashore a short season every year, enlivening the desolate rocks

PENGUINS. 59

and islands of an ocean seldom visited by other men than the sealer, and whaler, and
the few fortunate naturalists who are permitted to see for themselves that peculiar
animal life of that distant region, while we will have to content ourselves with what
we can learn from the best of their accounts.

We recognize three different types of penguins, represented by the king penguin, the
jackass penguin, and the rock-hopper, three well-defined groups of generic, or perhaps,
rather, super-generic rank, which we shall call Aptenodytes, Spheniscus, and Catarractes.

The largest and one of the oldest and best known forms is the king penguin, the type of
Aptenodytes, a genus easily distinguished by the size, and the length and slenderness of
the bill, which is slightly arched, with which are associated a great number of anatom-
ical characters; for instance, the persistence throughout life of the intermaxillary
suture, the absence of a complete coracoid foramen for the transmission of the nerve
to the middle pectoral muscle, the absence of any differentiation of syringeal from
the adjoining tracheal rings, the presence of a tracheal septum, ete. With the Apten-
odytes proper are here associated the members of the group usually called Pygoscelis,
which have the bill stouter and more feathered, and the tail longer.

Best known is A. longirostris, the king penguin of the Falkland Islands, Kerguelen
Island, and some other rocks and islands in the Antarctic Ocean. The color of the
back is a mixture of slate-color and black, the under parts of the body white, head and
throat black, a stripe from behind the eyes, down the sides of the neck, yellow, as is
also the anterior part of the latter. The nearly related A. patachonica is larger, the
base of the lower mandible and the tarsus more feathered. The accompanying plate
represents A. dongirostris, in regard to which Professor Moseley’s criticism of another
drawing is equally applicable. He says: “In the figure the birds’ heads are drawn as
if held horizontally. This is unnatural. The head and neck should be stretched out
vertically, quite straight, with the tips of the beak pointed directly upwards.” The
same gentleman says that the king penguin stands as high as a man’s middle, and when
disturbed, made a loud sound like ‘ wrr-urr-wrr’ At Marion Island he obtained an egg
which was of a uniform chalky white, pyriform in shape, and measuring 4.4 by 3.0
inches.

Dr. J. H. Kidder had good facilities of observing A. papua at their breeding-places
on Kerguelen Island, and has given a very interesting account of his experience (Bull.
U.S. Nat. Mus. No. 2), from which we take pleasure in copying the following: “No
living thing that I ever saw expresses so graphically a state of hurry as a penguin,
when trying to escape. Its neck is stretched out, flippers whirring like the sails of a
windmill, and body wagging from side to side, as its short legs make stumbling and
frantic efforts to get over the ground. There is such an expression of anxiety written
all over the bird; it picks itself up from every fall, and stumbles again with such an air
of having an armful of bundles, that it escapes capture quite as often by the laughter of
the pursuer as by its own really considerable speed.”

The jackass penguins (Spheniscus ) have received their name from their voice, which
is said to be very like the braying of donkeys. Their bills are straight and moderately
short, but very stout and deep; the tip of the upper mandible is hooked, and that of
the lower one truncate. Of anatomical characters the great development of the trans-
verse temporal crest, the relatively slight curvature of the zygomatic arch, and the
relative great length of the metatarsus, are among the more noteworthy features.
Several species are known, of which the Australian S. minor, with white throat and
without any dark collar, probably requires recognition as a separate genus, Bonaparte’s

60 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Eudyptula, on account of several important anatomical characters, among which is
the absence of a tracheal septum.

The South African species, S. demersus, is one of the oldest known members of the
order. It is slate-colored above, white underneath; a face-mask, offset from the rest of
head by a broad white band, is blackish, and so is a narrow collar which continues
down along the sides of the body, a dark stripe separated from the dark color of the
back by a continuation of the white band of the head.

Professor Moseley, of the ‘Challenger’ expedition, gives the following account of a
visit to a rookery of this bird at Seal Island, Cape of Good Hope. “It is a mere shel-
ving rock, on which it is enly possible to land on very favorable occasions. The birds
here nested on the open rock, which was fully exposed to the burning sun and ocea-
sional rain. There was not a blade of grass on the rock, but it was covered with
guano, with little pools of filthy green water. The birds nested under big stones,
wherever there was place for them. Most of the nests were, however, quite in the
open. The nests were formed of small stones and shells of a Balanus, of which there
were heaps washed up by the surf, and of old bits of wood, nails, and bits of rope,
picked up about the ruins of a hut which were rotting on the island, together with an
old sail, some boat’s spars, and bags of guano, evidently left behind by guano-seekers.
The object of thus making the nest is no doubt to some extent to secure drainage in
case of rain, and to keep the eggs out of water washing over the rocks; but the birds
evidently have a sort of magpie-like delight in curiosities. | Spheniscus magellanicus,
at the Falkland Islands, similarly collects variously colored pebbles at the mouth of its
burrow. Two pairs of the birds had built inside the ruins of the hut.

“ All the birds fought furiously, and were very hard to kill. They make a noise
very like the braying of donkeys, — hence their name ; they do not hop, but run or wad-
dle. They do not leap out of the water like the crested penguin, when swimming, but
merely come to the surface and sit there like ducks for a while, and dive again.”

A nearly allied but quite distinct species, Spheniscus magellanicus, easily recog-
nized by the double black band across the breast, is found at the southern end of
South America, and is particularly well known from the Falkland Islands and South
Georgia. An extremely interesting account of this species, which also is known as the
jackass penguin, and its habits at the latter locality, was published last year by Dr. Will,
who, during a year’s sojourn at the German polar station there, 1882-83, enjoyed un-
usual opportunities for the study of these birds. We translate his account in full, as
it probably is the most complete description of the habits of birds the home of which
is so remote from regularly inhabited localities.

“Much more droll than the ferocious looking ‘rock-hopper’ and the solemn king
penguin, is the jackass penguin, which in size (about 70 em.) agrees with the former.

“The area covered by our excursions embraced six colonies, one of which was oceu-
pied by thousand of penguins; these, together with the frequent oceurrence of these
animals on the beach at the station, afforded good opportunity for studying thoroughly
these queer birds, so singularly adapted for aquatic life.

“ At the beginning of October the penguins were almost exclusively seen on the
beach, crowded together and taking it easy after the copious meal, some of them in a
standing position, others laying down with the head under one of the wings. Before
long, however, they became more lively, and, tottering over the snowy slopes in long
rows, went in search of the higher parts of the valleys opening into the bay, apparently
most pleased with grass-clad and flat ground.

PENGUINS. 61

“A colony of penguins presents many interesting features during the nesting.
The breeding grounds are mostly completely razed, the grass having been torn off for
nesting purposes, so that everywhere the soil is bare between the irregularly strewn
nests, and converted by rain and the droppings of the animals into a malodorous
puddle. The nests are very rudely built, some by taking advantage of an already
existing hummock after biting off the grass; others consisted only of a shallow cavity
trampled into the ground, and surrounded with small pebbles, and particularly with
grass-roots and moss which the bird pulls out with the bill.

“The building of the nests does not occur without furious fights. Every opportu-
nity to steal grass and moss from unwatched nests (usually one of the mates is sitting
in the nest while the other carries the building materials to the spot) for use in their
own nest is seized upon, and then the depredators, who do not limit their pillaging to
their own colony, are pursued with blows and pecks of wings and bills.

“We found the first eggs about the end of October, and usually only two are laid;
if taken away, however, or stolen by the skuas (Stercorarius antarcticus) two other
egos may again be laid, but these are then always smaller. They vary considerably in
size, the longer diameter being from seven to nine centimetres. The white has a
bluish gloss, the yolk is orange, the shell very thick. The eggs are of considerable
practical importance, as a great number may be collected in a short time without diffi-
culty, although the taste is rather coarse.

“The breeding requires on an average six weeks, and is performed alternately by
both parents. They sit on the eggs like other birds, and can only be removed from
the nest by force, in which case their conduct is extremely ludicrous, as they defend
themselves, blowing like geese, with the bill wide open, and, arising slightly, peck at the
hand which dares encroach upon them. Pushed off the nest, the bird runs away as
fast as possible, returns very soon, however, and jumping, both feet at a time, into
the nest, looks foolish and bewildered at finding it empty; after searching all around
within and outside the nest, until finally it dawns upon its mind that it has been
robbed, the penguin lifts its head, giving vent to its grief by a doleful and discordant
scream. When hearing the screeching of the plundered birds one may imagine being
removed to a goose-pasture.

“The young ones are guarded and fed with the utmost care; the broad paths are
alive with a never-ceasing swarm of going and coming birds engaged in bringing food.
The old ones feed out of the crop; the young take the food from the bill of the old
ones.

“Toward the end of the breeding season, at the beginning of March, the old
penguins are very lean, presenting, on the whole, an unusually miserable appearance
during the molt which oceurs shortly after the young ones have exchanged their
gray down for the first plumage. They generally leave the colony at that time, retir-
ing with the young ones to some sheltered place, if possible in the vicinity of a rivulet,
where they await the molt.

“On shore the penguins move only slowly and clumsily if not attacked; they remain
unmoved if approached quietly, gazing with curiosity at the intruder, and may be
driven for hours like a flock of geese. When attacked, however, they defend them-
selves by striking violently with the wings, but finally try to escape by lying down
on the belly, rushing away by means of both feet and wings, moving the latter as
when they are swimming. Their speed is so great that the pursuer only with difficulty
can overtake them, particularly on snow-fields. I have repeatedly measured the dis-

62 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

tance between the impressions made by the wing in the snow, and found it to be, on
an average, twenty-seven inches.

“The water is their proper element, to which the whole structure of the body and
the smooth scale-like plumage is adapted. Standing on shore they plunge into the
rising wave, and dart through the water like a shot, by means of the wings only. The
speed and impetus may easily be tested by fixing a long line to the bird, and then

Fig. 28.— Catarractes demersus, rock-hopper.

letting it off into the water. The shock felt when it has run the line out is quite con-
siderable. The bird reappears at some distance from land to breathe, when it immedi-
ately again dives, continuing its flight under water.

“The greater part of the day is spent at sea, the fauna of which yields the
yoracious birds an abundant supply of food. They return to the shore before dark.
Shoals of penguins may often be seen, when on their way towards the shore, alternately
jumping clear out of the water and then diving again. If the attention of such a flock
be attracted by any foreign object, for instance, a boat, the whole company will stop
and lie quiet on the water for a moment, stretching their necks far out, but continue

PENGUINS. 63
immediately, as if ordered, jumping and diving in a different direction. Such excur-
sions of larger parties seem not to be the rule, however; they return usually simulta-
neously to their station singly or in small numbers.”

It is interesting to observe that the habits of the same species on the Falkland
Islands have been modified considerably on account of the permanent residence of
man in the vicinity of the breeding grounds, for Captain Abbott remarks that, in the
neghborhood of the settlement of Stanley, the burrows run in to a considerable distance,
“on account, I conclude, of their being so often robbed of their eges, which are taken
out by means of a piece of iron hoop fastened to the end of a pole.”

The accompanying cut gives a good idea of the remaining members of the order,
the rock-hoppers, Catarractes, also known as Hudyptes, easily recognized by their ele-
gant yellow superciliary crests and the short bill, with the upper jaw of a character-
istic oval form. Two species are generally admitted, C. demersus (catarractes and
chrysocome) and C. chrysolophus, the latter being the ‘macaroni’ of the sealers; but it
seems as if the birds referred to the former, the true rock-hoppers, may be separated ac-
cording to the different localities, Falkland Islands, Kerguelen Island, New Zealand, and
Tristan d’Acunha, in several forms of at least sub-specifie value. A few short extracts
from Professor Moseley’s excellent account may be found acceptable to complete the
picture of this singular order of birds: “It is impossible to conceive the discomfort of
making one’s way through a big rookery. You plunge into one of the lanes in the tall
grass, which at once shuts the surroundings from your view. You tread on a slimy,
black, damp soil composed of the bird’s dung. The stench is overpowering, the yell-
ing of the birds perfectly terrifying. The nests are placed so thickly that you cannot
help treading on eggs and young birds at almost every step. A parent bird sits on
each nest, with its sharp beak erect and open, ready to bite, yelling savagely, ‘caa,
eaa, urr, urr, its red eye gleaming, and its plumes at half-cock, and quivering with
rage. No sooner are your legs within reach than they are furiously bitten, often by
two or three birds at once — that is, if you have not got on strong leather gaiters, as
on the first occasion of visiting a rookery, you probably have not. At first you try to
ayoid the nests, but soon find that impossible; then, maddened almost by the pain,
stench, and noise, you have recourse to brutality, and the path behind you is strewed
with the dead and dying and bleeding. But you make miserably slow progress, and,
worried to. death, at last resort to the expedient of stampeding as far as your breath
will carry you. I always adopted the stampede method in rookeries. These penguins
make a nest which is simply a shallow depression in the black dirt, scantily lined with
a few bits of grass, or not lined at all. They lay two greenish-white eggs about as big
as duck eggs, and both male and female incubate. This penguin is called ‘rock-
hopper’ from its curious mode of progression. The birds hop from rock to rock with
both feet placed together, scarcely ever missing their footing.”

Little is known as yet as to the geological history of the penguins, except that it
dates back to the upper eocene at least, since fossil bones (humerus, coracoids, and
metatarsus) of a gigantic form, Palweudyptes antarcticus have been found in strata
of that age on New Zealand. This form stood from six to seven feet high, or higher
than an average man! We have here a distinct evidence of the great age of the
group, as might also be inferred from their remoteness from all other known birds.
Their relations seem to be with the other schizognathous Natatores, rather than with
any other, but the exact affinities are very obscure, for, as Professor Newton remarks,
there is perhaps scarcely a feather or a bone which is not diagnostic.

Leonnarp STEJNEGER.

64 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Super-Orper III.—EUORNITHES.

With the above name I have designated the rest of the existing birds. This super-
order, therefore, embraces all living birds except the Dromeognathe and the penguins.
After these two groups are removed, there remains a vast number of very differently
organized forms which, however, by intermediate links and connections on all sides,
show greater relationships inter se than with any of those treated of on the foregoing
pages.

The characters of this assemblage, as a whole, are rather of negative nature, though
this statement may be little more than a play of words, since the absence of a certain
feature is just as ‘positive’ a character in one group asisits presence in another. The
phrase only means that, while we are familiar with the general characters of the bird-
class, and while, from the previous account, we have learned the chief characters of
the groups removed, we consequently now should know the peculiarities of the last
group without any further characterization. A brief summary may nevertheless be
useful.

The Euornithes are not dromzognathous, and, I need not say, their jaws are not
possessed of teeth; the two mandibular halves are firmly united in a median sym-
physis; the head of the quadrate bone has two facets; the sutures of the skull disap-
pear entirely in the adult; the dorsal vertebrae are saddle-shaped, and more or less
firmly united ; the sacral vertebrae are anchylosed with the pelvic bones, of which the
ilia and ischia are anchylosed behind, thus forming an ilio-sciatic foramen ; the tail is
short, and the last vertebrae fused into a pygostyle; the wings, when in rest, are folded
up, the bones lying more or less parallel to the main axis of the body; the scapula
forms an angle with the coracoid, and not an arch; the hand has a free pollex; three
metatarsal elements are never separately distinguishable ; the feathers are distributed
over certain pteryle with interlying apteria.

The exact relationship of the present superorder to the two foregoing ones is by no
means obvious, since it may well be disputed whether the so-called schizognathous
“ Natatores,” on the one hand, are nearer related to the penguins than are the gallina-
ceous birds to the ostriches, on the other. All the evidence tends to show, however,
that the three groups separated very early, but our present material is too defective to
allow any trustworthy speculations as to the probable process. Fossil Euornithes are
by no means rare, however; but they are mostly from more recent strata, and nearly
all belong to still existing types, in some instances of more generalized features, but
the ‘connecting links’ are still missing. The search for fossil birds has, especially in
France, unearthed many interesting facts concerning the geological history of the
Euornithes and their former distribution, and the discovery, in deposits near Paris, of
several tropical and particularly African forms, for instance, Zvogon and Leptosomus,
are extremely interesting as compared with the later aretie and sub-aretic faunas of
the same latitudes during the glacial periods. But though the Euornithie forms origi-
nated during an earlier geological epoch, the present day is emphatically the era of
the Euornithes.

OrpEer VI.—CECOMORPH 4.

It is particularly among the ‘swimmers’ and ‘waders,’ the Natatores and Gral-
latores of the old systems, that the modern investigations into the structure and the
affinities of birds have made a sad havoe, entirely revolutionizing our ideas as to the

WATER BIRDS. 65

mutual relationships of the water birds. Their position and sequence has consequently
been completely changed, and the aspect of that part of the system is quite upset.
Ornithologists of the old school will have some difficulty in locating themselves.
Instead of the two old orders, Natatores and Grallatores, or three with the addition
of the Herodiones, the modern researches have revealed four centres of relationship,
which may be styled Pluvialiformes, Anseriformes, Ciconiiformes, and Pelecani-
formes, —the three latter forming the desmognathous, the first-mentioned group the
schizognathous series. The latter series more especially comprises the birds which
usually constitute the orders Pygopodes, Longipennes and Limicolz, the two first men-
tioned being here merged into Cecomorphie, according to Professor Huxley’s view.
The arrangement may not be regarded as final, however, for there are reasons to sus-
pect that it will be necessary, ere long, to divide the schizognathous swimmers into

b=)

three orders, Eretmopodes for the first
two superfamilies of the present arrange-
ment, Tubinares for the superfamily
Procellaroidex, and Pluviales for the
rest of the members of the two orders.

The fact is, that not only are the
gulls very nearly allied to the auks, but
their affinities with the Gralle, through
the plovers, are unmistakable. On the
other hand, the grebes seem to be only
distantly related to the other ‘Pygo-
podes,’ and the puffins and albatrosses
similarly so to the ‘Longipennes’ or
gulls. But there is one feature of more
novel systems which we are not willing
to adopt, viz., the position of the plovers
at the base of the series as the most
generalized forms. That in these birds
some anatomical features of quite a gen-
eralized character remain during the
whole lifetime, while in the gulls they
are only present in the embryonic state,
is no argument in favor of the view of
the latter being only a degraded branch
of the former, since we find ample proof
all through the class that one or more
characters of the ancestral stock may
survive in a highly specialized group, while they may be lost comparatively early in
another, which, on the whole, has departed only slightly from the common ancestor.
Our knowledge of these birds is as yet particularly deficient concerning the degree of
affinity between the different forms, and it will therefore be found that in the follow-
ing we have given the generally adopted sequence the benefit of the doubt.

As stated above, the members of this order are strictly schizognathous; another
cranial feature is that they are schizorhinal. Their palmate feet will serve to distin-
guish them externally, a feature which, among the Gralli, is only found in the avocets,

which are not easily confounded with the birds here in question on account of their
VOL. Iv. —5

—

FiG. 29.— Skeleton of Colymbus cristatus,

66 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

long legs and feet, features which none of them share. The grebes have only lobate
feet, like the phalaropes and the gallinules, which, however, have well-developed ree-
trices, not possessed by the grebes.

The grebes already in their external appearance manifest aberrant characters,
which secure for them a separate position as COLY MBOIDE 4& (with exclusion of the
loons, the Urinatorid, which, though having some general resemblance to the former,
differ in many very essential points). The grebes have no supraorbital depression for
the nasal glands; the number of cervical vertebra (15 to 19) is unusually large; the
sternum is quite different, the xiphoid process being shorter than the lateral ones, and
notched behind; the pelvis is also singularly long and narrow, and the diverging pubic
bones rather peculiar; the ambiens muscle is absent, and the formula of the leg
muscles is BX, while in the loons the ambiens is present and the formula is ABX;
only one carotid is present; the primaries are eleven, a very unusual number; true
rectrices are absent; the toes are lobate. In all these and several other features do
they differ from the loons, with which they share the long enemial process of the
tibia in front of the knee. The head is, in a good many species, most singularly
adorned during the breeding season by bright-colored ruffs and crests, which give
the birds a very odd appearance, still further increased by the broad, flattened
toes, and the total absence of an external tail. The grebes look extremely old-
fashioned; that is, they impress us as if their grotesque figures were only survivors
from by-gone periods, which we are used to imagine populated by all sorts of fanciful
creatures.

Only one family, Corymeim, also known as Podicipide, with about thirty species
referable to a few genera, composes at present this superfamily. As a group they are
nearly cosmopolitan, though mainly confined to the temperate regions of both hemi-
spheres. Their habits present many strange features quite in keeping with their curi-
ous aspect. They are among the most expert divers, but, in contradistinetion to the
penguins, never use the wing in diving, the large, curiously-shaped feet performing
the propulsion alone. The extreme compression of the tarsus, to use Macgillivray’s
words, and the arrangement of the toes, enable the feet to be brought forward with-
out receiving almost any opposition from the water, and in giving the propelling
stroke, the blade, thus folded up, is expanded into a broad, lobate paddle. Among
flying birds none are so completely water birds as are the grebes. They very seldom
leave the water, and must be pressed very hard before they take to the wing; nothing
but the direst necessity will force them on land, for not only do they feed entirely on
the products of, and in, the water, but they sleep and even breed on the surface of
that element. Their nests are floating masses of wet vegetable material, which the
parents secure by diving; this swimming abode, which they anchor to some reed or
grass, is sometimes constructed over deep water, and the eggs are often hatched when
partly lying in the water. When out of the shell, the young has not far to walk; he
looks a few moments over the edge of his water-drenched cradle, and down he goes
with the expertness of an old diver. The grebes have a peculiar faculty of regulating
their floating in the water; usually they lie quite high, but if alarmed, and fearing
danger, they can press themselves down under the surface, so that only the long, thin
neck and the back of their flat body is visible above. They feed chiefly upon fishes,
and may, therefore, in some localities, become injurious. Their skin, with the peculiar
silky feathers, is in great demand for trimmings, ladies’ hats, muffs, ete.

The grebes are migratory in the colder parts of their range, and spend the breed-

GREBES. 67

ing season exclusively on fresh water. Only during the migrations and winter-time
are they to be found at sea.

The crested grebe (Colymibus cristatus), the species represented in the cut, is one
of the largest of the genus. It has formerly been considered an inhabitant of this
continent, but, as it seems, quite erroneously, it being confined to the temperate parts

= oS ~
A N

YY,
mS

SY),
xa,

FiG. 30. — Colymbus cristatus, crested grebe.

of the Old World, including Europe. The western grebe (2chmophorus occidentalis)
inhabits the western and southwestern portion of the Nearctic region. It is charac-
terized by its extremely elongated neck, long and slender bill, and by the absence of
parti-colored ruffs or crests. Podiceps dominicanus, from South and Central America,
represents in the New World the well-known European dab-chick (2. fluviatilis), both
very small species, destitute of crests or ruffs, the latter represented all over the Old

68 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

World by several geographical variations. The American genus, Podilymbus, is par-
ticularly characterized by its high and stout bill, and by the bristly feathers of the
forehead. The American dab-chick, ?. podiceps, is common in eastern North America.

We have here to consider a small group of birds, consisting of perhaps not more
than four species, and constituting a separate superfamily which we have called HELI-
ORNITHOIDE, though by no means convinced that this is the best place that could
be assigned to them. They are more usually referred to the neighborhood of the rails,
but as this position does not satisfy us better, the view of the late Professor W. A.
Forbes has here been followed in placing them nearer to the grebes.

With the latter, the fin-foots, or sun-grebes, as they have also been called, agree in
the form of the bill, and like them they have lobated toes, which, among other things,
however, differ in having the middle toe decidedly longer than the outer one. Their
plumage is not dense and glossy like that of the grebes, from which the fin-foots differ
most essentially in having not less than eighteen well-developed tail-feathers. Another
point characteristic of the pterylosis of these remarkable birds is that the feathers
are without an aftershaft. The head is small, and the neck very thin and narrow.

The fin-foots are still a great puzzle to ornithologists, for not only is their structure
imperfectly known, but information concerning their habits is extremely scanty.
Their geographical distribution is not less perplexing; for one genus, with one species,
Heliornis fulica, inhabits South America, two species of the genus Podica are peculiar
to Africa, while a third one is at home in eastern Asia, a distribution which offers cer-
tain points of analogy to that of the darters.

The South American fin-foot inhabits rivers of the Brazilian empire and other
eastern states on the Neotropical continent. It is about the size of the European dab-
chick, of a brownish olive color above, with head and upper neck black; it is buffy
white underneath ; neck, throat, and a postocular stripe pure white. Very characteris-
tic are the broad and distinct black bands which cross the joints of the yellow feet.
The ‘picapare,’ as it is called by the inhabitants, prefers shadowy and quiet rivers,
even those of the deep virgin forests, feeding upon fishes, water insects, and seeds. It
is said to sit for hours on a branch overhanging the water and half submerged, but
diving is only resorted to in danger or when wounded. Two naked young ones are
hatched in December. Heard from a distance, the voice is said to resemble the bark-
ing of a small dog.

The following superfamily, the ALCOIDE&, is of a very varied appearance, and is
in many respects of great importance, not only on account of the great number of differ-
ing forms of which it is composed, and the zoological interest connected with them,
but also because the enormous number of individuals of several species make them a
notable object in the economy of many a tribe of mankind inhabiting the inhospitable
regions surrounding the north pole. In fact, the membors of this superfamily are dis-
tinctive of the northern cireumpolar fauna, and not a single one is found on the
southern hemisphere, nor does a single species inhabit any part of the tropical zone.
As a consequence of the circumpolar distribution, all the genera and nearly all the
species occur in America.

We distinguish two very well defined families, the Urinatorid and the Alcide.
Externally they differ especially by the former haying four, the latter only three toes.
A very striking anatomical difference is the presence in the former of a very powerful
enemial process of the tibia in front of the knee-pan, another being that the former
haye an ambiens muscle whic the latter lack.

AUKS. 69

The Untnator&, or loons, are usually by systematists associated more or less in-
timately with the grebes, though, it appears, with no good foundation, being, however,
on the whole, the most generalized forms of the present superfamily, and therefore
nearest related to the ancestral stock from which both grebes and auks have started.
Eyen in coloration the loons are less specialized than the other members of the super-
family, since in the latter the young ones at once assume the plumage of the adult
birds, while the young loons first have to pass a more or less speckled stage.

Only a single genus, Urinator, with five distinct species, of which the red-throated
diver (U. lumme) is the most common and best-known form, constitutes the family.
They inhabit high latitudes and propagate always on fresh water, in the neighborhood
of which they deposit their dark olive-colored eggs in a rude depression in the ground,
but they retire to the sea as soon as the breeding is over. They are solitary birds, and
seldom more than one pair occupy alake. Their voice is loud and harsh; heard during
a dark and stormy night, it sounds like cries of people in danger or distress ; during the
daytime their ‘a, kakara which they repeat when flying, is a fitting song to the ac-
companiment of the roaring surf, and has procured for the red-throated species the
distinction of being styled by humorous Norsemen “the nightingale of Lofoten.”
There, as elsewhere, where the divers are at home, they have given rise to many popular
tales and superstitions. Thus it is said about the loon (U. imber) that it was first
made without legs, but that Nature, becoming sensible of her mistake, got into a pet,
and flung a pair of legs after the bird, which fully accounts for their singularly pos-
terior situation. Even the old naturalists were full of these fables, and Pontoppidan,
the celebrated Norwegian bishop and author of the last century, relates how “the
immer is never seen to come ashore, excepting in the week before Christmas, where-
fore the fourth Sunday in Advent is called by the people Immer Sunday.” He also
tells that the bird has two holes under its wings, wherein it deposits its eggs, which it
carries about with it, hatching them with as much facility on the water as other birds
do on dry land.

The auk family (Atci#) consists of a number of birds of varied appearance, nearly
all of which are of a somewhat clumsy build, with rather large heads, the legs placed far
back, and only three toes, the hind one being invariably absent. The sexes are
colored alike, and the young ones differ only slightly. They have a double molt,
and the breeding plumage is usually somewhat different from that worn during the
rest of the year, but the change is mainly confined to the face and the anterior parts
of the lower surface.

The family, as a whole, is cireumpolar, although several of the forms have quite a
restricted distribution, especially those peculiar to the North Pacific Ocean. It is
noteworthy that, at present, only two genera are peculiar to the Atlantic and adjoining
parts of the Arctic Ocean, viz. Alea and Alle, while not less than seven genera are con-
fined to the Pacific side. Three genera are circumpolar.

Though closely resembling the black-and-white auks and guillemots proper, as far
as coloration is concerned, the little sea-dove (Alle alle), ‘rotge,’ as it is commonly
called by all the sailors visiting its breeding places in the Atlanto-Arctic Ocean, or
king-auk, as it is styled by the Norsemen, seem to be of a somewhat different structural
type. We shall here only mention the peculiar shape of the bill, which is entirely unique
even in this family of birds, which excels in curiously shaped bills of the most different
pattern. These can be traced back to a few types, however ; but the bill of the bird in

70 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

question represents quite a type of its own, being nearly gallinaceous in form, and re-
markable for an exceedingly short gonys. That this form is said to have only one
carotid, while the other Alcide have two, is perhaps of less moment, though we must
remember that the grebes were similarly specialized.

The sea-dove is truly hyperborean in its breeding habits, being found in incredible
numbers along the island shores of the western Arctic Ocean. Nordenskjéld gives a
very graphic description, from which we extract the following. The rotge occurs only
sparingly off the southern part of Novaja Zemlja, and does not, so far as I know,
breed there. The situation of the land is too southerly, the accumulations of stones

FiG. 31.— Uria ringvia, spectacled guillemot.

along the sides of the mountains too inconsiderable, for the thriving of this little bird.
But on Spitzbergen it occurs in incredible numbers, and breeds in the talus a hundred
to two hundred metres high, which frost and weathering have formed at several places
on the steep slopes of the coast mountain sides. These stone heaps form the palace of
_ the king-auk, richer in rooms and halls than any other in the wide round world. If
one climbs up among the stones, he sees at intervals actual clouds of fowl suddenly
emerge from the ground, either to swarm round in the air or else to fly out to sea, and
at the same time, those that remain make their presence underground known by an

AUKS AND GUILLEMOTS. (al

increasing cackling and din. The birds, circling in the air, soon settle again on the
stones of the mountain slopes, where, squabbling and fighting, they pack themselves so
close together that from fifteen to thirty of them may be killed by a single shot.
Their food, which they secure by diving, consists of crustaceans and worms. The
single bluish-white egg is laid on the bare ground without a nest, so deep down among
the stones that it is only with difficulty that it can be got at.

Fia. 32. — Plautus impennis, great auk.

The three genera, Uria, Alea, and Plautus, like the foregoing, black with white
breast and belly, and white fore-neck during the winter, constitute another group
characterized by their more or less compressed bills, upon which the feathering of the
head protrudes quite a considerable distance. The first-named genus contains the two
different species of guillemots, murres, or lomyias (U. troile and UW. lomvia) repre-
sented in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans by separate varieties, particularly remark-

72 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

able for their enormous number on the northern bird-rookeries, and for the variability
in color of the single large and pear-shaped egg, which may be found from nearly uni-
form white to deep sea-green, heavily spotted and singularly streaked with black and
brown. The accompanying cut represents a puzzling variety, the so-called spectacled
guillemot (UW. ringvia), which is identical with the common species except in possess-
ing a white ring round the eyes, and a white streak behind them running backward
above the ear-coverts. While rather scarce, and not occurring in all places where the
common guillemot breeds, it, on the other hand, is never found except where the latter
occurs. The status of the variety is therefore not settled, though most ornithologists,
perhaps, at present regard it as a mere individual variation. In regard to the cut, it
may be remarked that the shoulder feathers ought to be more uniform black.

Next in order come the true auks, both characterized by the transverse grooves on
the bill, and both confined to the North Atlantic Ocean. The first is the razor-bill,
(Alca torda), the other the great auk (Plautus impennis), with its many names, the
gejr or gare-fowl of the Icelanders, the northern penguin, the celebrated ‘wing-
less bird, which formerly inhabited both shores of the Atlantic, in its northern tem-
perate parts, but, contrary to the popular notion, not the Arctic Ocean. This famous
bird, famous because of its tragic fate, bred numerously on Newfoundland and on the
Funk Islands during the last century; in 1844 the last survivors of the last colony in
Iceland were killed. Now its skin and bones and eggs are regarded as the most
precious treasures of the museums; and long monographical accounts are published,
showing the exact number of these relics, the museums in which they are found, and
the history of each single specimen as far as it can be traced. The last list (1884) is
by Professor W. Blasius, who enumerates 76 authenticated skins or mounted birds, 68
eggs, 9 more or less complete skeletons, besides numerous skulls and detached bones.
Half the skins and most of the bones are probably of American origin, but not more
than five skins are in American museums; among these is the one which Mr. Robert
L. Stuart recently bought for $625, and presented to the museum in New York. The
gare-fowl is of special interest, since it is the only one of the order which is known to
have been deprived of the power of flight, and which therefore became extermi-
nated by the agency of man. It was a kind of representative, in northern waters, of
the flightless Antarctic penguins, by which name it was principally known on the
American side of the Atlantic during the last century, penguin being probably only a
corrupt derivative of pin-ving, though usually derived from the Latin pinguis, fat.
We need not here repeat the differences of the true penguins, but will only call atten-
tion to the fact that the great auk was provided with normal remiges, and that it
was only the smallness of the wings which made them unfit for flight.

The black guillemots (Cepphus) form a small group of Arctic birds which in their
history exhibit too little to detain us further. | Through a number of rather obscurely
known forms (Brachyramphus, ete.,) peculiar to the Pacific Ocean, we are led to the
curiously ornamented pigmy auks of the same ocean, conspicuous among other charac-
ters for their white-colored eyes; and to the much larger sea-parrots or puffins. Of the
former may be mentioned the least auk (Simorhynchus pusillus), a beautiful little
sea-bird, not so large as a robin, and with a peculiar knob on top of the bill near its
base, which is shed annually when the breeding season is over. Two other species
of the same genus (8. pygmeus and cristatellus) are somewhat larger, but look
very odd from the red or orange bill, the many white crests and moustaches, and
the peculiar tuft of feathers on the forehead, bent forward in exactly the same man-

PUFFINS. 73

ner as the feather crest of the California quail. All these inhabit principally the
rocky shores of the Aleutian Islands, breeding in deep holes of the rocks and be-
tween the stones. Then we have the rhinoceros auk (Cerorhina monocerata) with
its peculiar deciduous horn on top of the bill, We may also mention the parrot auk
(Cyclorhynchus psittaculus), because of its most extraordinary bill, of which Cassin
says that “it seems to obtain a maximum of oddity amongst the queer bills of this fam-
ily of birds, the whole affair looking as if it might be a nose of wax, badly pinched and
jerked to the disadvantage of the under mandible,” but especially because we wish
to warn against the often-repeated theory, that the knife-shaped or faleate under
mandible, together with the compressed upper bill, are thus adapted for prying open
bivalve molluses ; nobody has seen them open shells in that way, and, in fact, the food
of these birds consists only of fish-fry, crustaceans, cephalopods, and small molluses which
they can swallow whole, as I have verified by numerous dissections.

Nearly related to the foregoing is another small group of auks consisting of only
two genera and three well-defined species, viz., the puffins, or, as the German ornitholo-
gists sometimes call them, the masked divers, a name deriving its application from
the white face ‘mask,’ quite a distinctive feature in these birds; and not at all alluding
to the grotesque, high, extremely compressed, transversely grooved, and gayly col-
ored bill, much less to the deciduous nature of the basal parts of the bill, a peculiar-
ity which was not known until the French naturalist, L. Bureau, made the discovery
in 1876. By examining the bill of breeding birds we will find that it consists of two
differently colored parts, —a terminal one, with several transverse grooves, and a basal,
purplish, yellow, or green part separated from the former by a furrow, and again sub-
divided by other furrows into several distinct pieces; nearest to the feathering of the
forehead is a somewhat swollen orlet, with numerous fine pits, like the top of a thimble ;
all these parts are hard like the tip of the bill, but the corner of the mouth is sur-
rounded by a soft wattle, the ‘rosette ;’ and in the genus J’ratercula, soft wattles are
also found under and above the eyes, the latter being the so-called ‘horns. Towards
the end of the breeding season the furrows between these basal plates become deeper,
until finally they are entirely detached, when they fall off, giving place to a brownish
soft membrane or ‘cere. Upon closer examination we now find that the outline of
the bill has changed considerably, it is much lower where it joins the feathering, and
the latter oceupies now the place of the orlet with the numerous pits. Shortly after
midwinter these basal parts commence to swell and harden, becoming brighter colored
when the breeding season draws near; the feathers on the orlet drop off, the pits indi-
cating where they were originally inserted. Simultaneously with this shedding of the
bill, the double molt of the plumage takes place, but the only difference between the
breeding attire and that of the rest of the year is that the mask is white, against
gray or black, and that in the genus Lunda at that time an elegant tuft of long, pend-
ant straw-yellow plumes is developed behind the eyes. Both sexes are absolutely
similar, and the shedding of bill and plumes identical in both,

The North Atlantic Ocean is inhabited by the common puftin (/ratercula arctica)
and its different geographical varieties. Its Pacific representative is the horned puffin
(F’. corniculata) with the base of the bill canary-yellow. More peculiar to the latter
ocean is the tufted puffin (Lunda cirrhata) which occurs from the Farralones, outside
of San Francisco Bay, all along the northwestern coast and across the Aleutian Islands
to Kamtschatka. The present writer has had good opportunity of observing the
latter species while prosecuting ornithological researches on the Kamtschatkan

74 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Islands two years ago, and takes, therefore, the liberty to introduce a sketch of his
experience with this little known but very interesting species, extracted from an ad-
vanced sheet of his report. “With the beginning of May the ‘toporok’ (plur.
‘toporki’) as it is called by the Russians, makes its appearance at the islands, an
event to which the natives, heartily tired of their winter food, the salted seal-meat,
look forward with great impatience. On a bright afternoon we therefore started, a
gay picnic party, consisting mostly of Aleuts and their wives or lady friends, for the
small islet Toporkoff, about three miles off. During our passage out only a few birds
were seen, as it was no ‘land-day,’ but I was assured by the natives who had watched
them that they would be in on the following morning. The toporki and their allies
show during this season, previous to the breeding, the peculiarity of appearing regu-
larly — as it seems —in great abundance near shore on one day, while next day they
all disappear, staying away on the high sea for two days, when again they take a
‘land-day. Toporkoff Island, which has received its name from the fact that it is
one of the greatest rookeries of these birds, consists of a horizontal plateau about thirty
feet above the level of the sea, rising abruptly from a beach fifty to two hundred feet
broad. The plateau is covered with a thick hummocky sod, which in every direction
is perforated by the numberless nest holes dug out by the toporki. When evening
set in, the picnic party went home, leaving us men to pass the night on the island.
The ornithological spectacle at daybreak the following morning was unique and
grand. Hundreds and thousands of Lunda cirrhata crossed and recrossed the island,
coming from all directions, and disappearing on the opposite side, in order to return
again and again. A wonderful sight! The black birds with their conspicuous white
face-mask, the long, floating, yellow ear-tufts, bent like the horns of a ram, with large
red-and-green-colored beaks and red legs, looked like fantastical creatures of the
tropics rather than inhabitants of the less extravagant north. Like black specks they
rose from the horizon, heading for the island; the nearer they came, the larger they
grew, until they passed over us, disappearing as specks again on the other side, and
when once started, nothing seemed to be able to bring them out of their straight
course. These clumsy looking, puffy birds possess, nevertheless, a very rapid flight,
so that, at the first acquaintance, one is rather apt to shoot behind them; but they ao
not fly very high. The natives take advantage of this difficulty of making a sudden
turn, and throw a net, fastened to a long pole, in the way of the flying bird, which
thus falls to the ground and is captured. When turned out, the Aleuts were already
in their places, waiting for the rush. By the dawning day we discern a small flock of
toporki surrounding each of them, stretching their necks and poincing their bills
heavenward in quite an unaccountable manner. A closer inspection reveals that these
are only decoys: empty skins held in position by a stick thrust into the ground. It is
‘land-day’ indeed, and we only wonder that the innumerable birds do not suffer
collision during their airy sailing, for they are thick as May-flies round an electric
light. Suddenly the nearest Aleut raises his net; a bird, unable to turn aside, runs
into it with a clash, falls to the ground, and in a twinkling is added to the heap of
other unfortunates with broken necks.”

Though in their external appearance extremely unlike the Alcoidex, the birds con-
stituting the superfamily LAROIDE&, or the gulls, are intimately related to them.
Their wings are long; the feet are placed more under the middle of the body, which
therefore is carried nearly horizontal, instead of upright, they have usually four toes,
the three anterior ones palmate. But the characters of the plumage agree pretty

SKUAS. 75

closely, and so does the anatomical structure too. Without going further into detail,
we only mention that, in contradistinction to the foregoing groups, the members of
the present one have the part of the frontals occupying the space between the depres-
sions for the nasal glands widened to a flat surface instead of being a sharp ridge. As
to the palatal characters, may be noticed the presence of basipterygoid processes.
The superfamily is equal to the former order, Longipennes, minus the Tubinares,
which here constitute the superfamily Procellaroides, a separation to be closer dis-
cussed under the latter.

Two, three, or four families are recognized in this group, according to the value
assigned to distinguishing characters by the different authors, viz., two when skimmers
and terns, on the one hand, are placed against jegers and gulls on the other; three
when the two latter are deemed sufliciently distinct to form separate families ; four
when the two former are also allowed family rank. Notwithstanding the common
usage, the present writer is unable to detect even a sub-family distinction between the
gulls and the terns, while he is willing to regard the skimmers as constituting such a
division. The jgers he will treat as a distinct family, however.

This family, called the Srercorarnps, consists only of a few species— about half
a dozen — which exhibit a series of characters not shared by the rest of the members of
the superfamily, being in many respects a remarkable and highly interesting group
of birds. One of the most obvious features is the so-called ‘cere,’ covering the basal
part of the beak above the nostrils; this cere is by some authors said to be soft, others
again say that it is only a hard thin lamella, while the fact seems to be that both are
correct, but that it is soft or hard according to the season. In my opinion this cere is
the homologue of the ‘nasal cuirass’ of the puffins, and is shed in precisely the same
manner, as I have a specimen from Kamtschatka which seems to be in the process
of shedding, a discovery here announced for the first time. The pterylosis deviates
somewhat from that of the Larids, the feather tracts being considerably broader,
and the arrangement of the inferior tract different. Of anatomical features we will
only mention that the Stercorariide have only one notch on each side of the poste-
rior margin of the breast bone, while the Laride have two, and that in the former the
cca are very much longer.

We distinguish two genera,*the members of which disagree not only in external
appearance, but also in their habits. The first one consists of the great skuas (Mega-
lestris) strong, large, dusky brown-colored birds, with the bearing of a Jarge gull. The
bill is strong, and the tail is nearly even. One species inhabits the North Atlantic
(M. skua) while two representative forms are found in the antarctic seas. Dr. J. H.
Kidder had the opportunity of observing the habits of one of the latter (AZ. antareti-
cus) while connected with the U. 8. Transit-of-Venus Expedition to Kerguelen Island ;
and as his interesting sketch of its habits illustrates the peculiarities of the genus, we
introduce an extract as follows: “It was at first taken for a hawk by all of us; its
manner of flight, watchfulness of the ground over which it flew, and habit of perch-
ing on spots commanding a wide view, all suggesting this impression. It was, indeed,
difficult to believe the evidence of my own senses when I found a web-footed bird
avoiding the water, and preying solely, so far as my observation extended, upon other
birds. When any of the party went out shooting, he was pretty sure to be followed
by one or two ‘sea-hens,’ as the sealers call them, and had often to be very prompt to
secure his game before it should be carried off in his very presence. November 21,
in order to settle the question whether they attack and kill their own game when it is

76 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

unhurt, Mr. Stanley and I dug up, by the aid of the dog, a well-grown and nearly-
fledged young bird (supposed to be of Majaqueus equinoctialis), as large as an
ordinary domestic fowl. A pair of skuas being near at hand, watching our proceed-
ings, I threw the young bird up into the air, so that it flew some distance and alighted
perhaps two hundred yards away from us. One of the skuas immediately flew up to
it, and killed it by repeated blows upon the head with its beak; the other remaining
at some distance, on guard, as I at first thought, but, as afterward appeared, afraid of
its mate, for, while we stood watching the first skua eating its capture (nearly as large
as itself), the other approached by degrees, uttering short, plaintive chirps, but not
daring to share in the meal. When, after a few minutes, we drove them off, the
abdomen of the petrel had been torn open and its entrails partly devoured. As a
general rule, its habits are terrestrial, and on the few occasions when, probably after
poor success in hunting, I have seen it alight in the water, it has held its wings up
perpendicularly, like a butterfly, as if afraid of wetting them. At the pairing season,
this trick of holding up the wings becomes quite a prominent characteristic. Two
will alight upon a knoll, quite near together, holding their wings perpendicularly in
the air, and set up a vociferous cackling. The note is loud, harsh, and hoarse, sugges-
tive of the cry of the gull. The nest is a shallow cavity in the long grass (J’estuca),
lined sparingly with grass stems, and always in a dry spot. The old birds make it very
lively for the egg-hunter, attacking him on opposite sides with great vigor and deter-
mination, and keeping up an outery that is really appalling. Seeing a skua fly by
the house one day, apparently going somewhere in a great hurry, I snatched up a re-
volver (no gun being at hand) and followed him. He was going to join the female on
her nest, as I suspected, and when I approached both attacked me as usual. I sue-
ceeded in killing the male, but emptied the revolver at the female without success,
and was kept standing for certainly twenty minutes, pelting the enraged bird with
stones as she swooped down at my head, with the two eggs in plain sight, but not dar-
ing to pick them up.”

The members of the genus Stercorarius are arctic and sub-arctic, being of smaller
size than the foregoing, and characterized by having the middle pair of tail feathers
protruding considerably beyond the others. The Pomarine jewger (S. pomarinus) is
of a somewhat rare occurrence, but is easily distinguished by the middle tail feathers,
which are obtuse at the end, having the portion beyond the others twisted so that the
webs stand nearly vertical instead of lying flat. The long-tailed jeger (S. longi-
caudus) is another northern species, characterized by its enormously elongated and
pointed central tail feathers, and its blue tarsus. It is more an inland bird, often in-
habiting moors and swamps in the mountains, and to a great extent feeding upon
field-mice and lemmings. The best-known species is the so-called Richardson’s jxger,
known among fishermen and sailors as the ‘ boatswain,’ ‘teaser, ‘dung-hunter,’ ete.,
the first name referring to the pointed central tail feathers as‘ marling-spikes,’ the office
emblem, so to speak, of the boatswain ; the third one alluding to the belief, which at
one time even was shared by the men of science, that these birds feed on the dung of
gulls and terns, while the second name fitly illustrates one of the remarkable habits
of these birds, to be mentioned below, and which has secured for it its scientific name
S. parasiticus. Though written more than fifty years ago, William Macgillivray’s
spirited account of tne habits of this bird is still unsurpassed, so we may be excused for
reprinting it here: “The sea-birds are on wing, wheeling and hovering all around,
vociferous in their enjoyment, their screams mingling into one harsh noise, not less

JEGERS. 17

pleasing for a time than the song of the lark or blackbird (Merula). Every now and
then a tern dips into the water, and emerges with a little fish in its bill, which it swal-
lows without alighting. In the midst of all this bustle and merriment, there comes
gliding from afar, with swift and steady motion, a dark and resolute-looking bird,
which, as it cleaves a path for itself among the white terns, seems a messenger of
death. But afew minutes ago he was but a dim speck on the horizon, or at least
some miles away, and now, unthought of, he is in the very midst of them. Nay, he
has singled out his victim, and is pursuing it. The latter, light and agile, attempts to
evade the aggressor. It mounts, descends, sweeps aside, glides off in a curve, turns,
doubles, and shoots away, screaming incessantly the while. The sea-hawk follows
the frightened bird in all its motions, which its superior agility enables it to do
with apparent ease. At length the tern, finding escape hopeless, and perhaps terrified
by the imminence of its danger, disgorges part of the contents of its gullet, probably
with the view of lightening itself. The pursuer, with all his seeming ferocity, had no
designs upon the life of the poor tern; and now his object is evident, for he plunges
after the falling fish, catches it in his descent, and presently flies off to attack another
bird. In this way the marauder makes his rounds, exacting tribute from all whom
he thinks capable of paying it, and not sturdy enough to resist oppression. The
teaser never fishes for himself on such occasions, although his organization seems to
fit him for aquatic rapine, even more than that of the tern or gull. The pirate can
neither diye nor plunge, but it swims with ease, and sits lightly on the water, like a
gull. The instinct that enables it to select a bird that has something to spare for its
wants is truly surprising. I have never seen it give chase to a gull or tern, without
accomplishing its purpose. It is not a singular case that an animal should be destined
to live by the labors of others of different species; but in the class to which the pirate
belongs there are very few instances of such an arrangement. It cannot, however, be
said to live without labor, for the trouble of compelling its unwilling vassals to dis-
gorge is apparently greater than what would abundantly supply it with honestly
obtained food.”

Before closing the history of this bird, we may remark that it breeds almost exclu-
sively near fresh water, though, of course, not so very far from the sea, unless in the
neighborhood of a colony of terns or gulls, likewise breeding at an inland lake. We
have already, in the introduction, mentioned the remarkable dichromatism of this
species, which has no connection with age, season, or sex, but which seems to be some-
what influenced by the geographical distribution, since the dark phase is the most
numerous form in the southern part of the range, while in the highest north the bird
with the whitish under side is the predominating, and possibly the only oceurring.

In the next family, the Larm.x, the horny covering of the bill is continuous, there
being no cere or separate piece overhanging the nostrils. The hind border of the
sternum is provided with two notches on each side, and the cxea are short. The di-
vision in two sub-families has already been mentioned. The first one of these com-
prises the gulls and terns, which we, at present, can see no reason for separating,
except as subordinate groups. The latter are usually of a slenderer build, and the
nostrils are mostly placed in the basal half of the bill, while in the gulls they open
near the middle, and furthermore, their bill is not hooked at the end, as usually in the
gulls, but these differences are only those of degree, and they run nearly imperceptibly
into each other. The popular notion as to the characters separating these two groups
is that the gulls have an even tail, the terns a forked one; but while this mark holds

78 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

good in most of the forms, it is by no means reliable, since we have gulls with deeply
forked tails, and both gulls and terns in which the tail is wedge-shaped or graduated.

The predominating color of the adult members of this sub-family is white with a
gray mantle, varying in shade from the most delicate pearl gray to dark blackish slate,
or nearly black, and the head is often more or less marked with black in summer.
The seasonal change is not great, and affects chiefly the color of the head, which, in
species with black hoods, turn white in winter, while the white-headed gulls usually get
that part streaked with dusky during the same season. There are, however, several
forms, both among gulls and terns, which are more or less dusky. The bills and feet
are usually brightly colored, yellow or red, and the sexes are alike in color. The
young ones, however, are very different from the adult, being mostly of a brownish-
gray, spotted or streaked with dusky, and with dusky wings and tail, the bill also
being dark.

The gulls inhabit the oceanic shores and inland lakes alike, though most species
are truly marine, or nearly so, and as they are distributed all over the world, their

FiG. 33.— Hydrocolaus ridibundus, black-headed gull.

graceful form is familiar to everybody, whether he dwells near the coast or far in the
interior. Our ownshores of the two oceans are thickly populated by their noisy crowds,
and on our large inland waters numerous colonies rear their black-speckled brood.
We therefore need only refer to the accompanying full-page cut, to recall to our
readers the fascinating view of a gull rookery with its ceaseless uproar, caused by the
screaming and quarrelling birds, overnoising even the thunder of the surf. The black-
hooded gulls, of which the cut illustrates a characteristic and well-known Old World
representative (IZydrocoleus ridibundus), are still more clamorous, and their voice
more penetrating, than that of their larger relatives (Zarws), resembling, in fact, that

: GULLS. 79

of the terns, which they approach both in general coloration, structure, movements,
and habits. A not distantly related species, without black on the head, however, is
the mackerel-gull of New Zealand (77. scopulinus), the ‘tarapunga’
which seems to be somewhat similar in habit to Richardson’s jeger, just mentioned
on a previous page, judging from Dr. W. L. Buller’s account, which is to the follow-
ing effect: “This pretty little gull is one of our commonest birds, frequenting every
part of the coast [of New Zealand], and being equally plentiful at all seasons of the
year. It is a bird of very lively habits, and its presence goes far to relieve the mono-
tony of a ride over such dreary stretches of sand as the Ninety-mile Beach, and the
coast-line between Wanganui and Wellington. At one time you will meet with a flock
of fifty or more in council assembled, fluttering their wings, chattering and screaming
in a state of high excitement; at another you will observe them silently winnowing
the air, turning, and passing up and down at regular intervals, as they eagerly
scan the surface of the water. Here you find them ranged apart along the smooth
beach, like scouts on a cricket-ground ; there you see a flock of them packed together
on a narrow sand-pit, standing closer than a regiment of soldiers — heads drawn in,
one foot up, ‘standing at ease. Then, again, if you observe them closely, you may
see them following and plundering the oyster-catcher (JZe@matopus) in a very sys-
tematic manner. Nature has furnished the last-named bird with a long bill, with which
it is able to forage in the soft sand for blue crabs and other small crustaceans. The
mackerel-gull is aware of this, and cultivates the society of his long-billed neighbor to
some advantage, he dogs his steps very perseveringly, walking and flying after him,
and then quietly standing by till something is captured, when he raises his wings and
makes a dash at it. The oyster-catcher may succeed in flying off with his prey; but
the plunderer, being swifter on the wing, pursues, overtakes, and compels a surrender.
The gentleman of the long bill looks gravely on while his crab is being devoured, and,
having seen the last of it, he gives a stifled whistle, and trots off in search of another,
his eager attendant following suit.”

From the Antipodes we turn our attention towards the icy shores surrounding the
North Pole, where one of the most beautiful species of the whole family of gulls has
taken up his summer residence, and whence —even in winter — he only very seldom
makes a visit to countries inhabited by civilized man. We refer to Ross’s gull (/tho-
dostethia rosea), or the wedge-tailed gull, as it is also called, on account of the form
of its tail. It is a rather small species, white, with a light pearl-gray mantle, and a
very characteristic black collar round the middle of the neck; the white being suf-
fused with a delicate peach-blossom red in the fresh bird, which gradually fades away
after death. The bill is black, the feet are red. The history of this bird deserves to
be given in detail, since it is also the history of how slowly our knowledge of the birds
inhabiting the locality where it lives has advanced, and the efforts which have been
made by heroic explorers to elucidate the mystery as to the true locality of the species.
The first two specimens were obtained at Alagnak, Melville Peninsula, 69° 30’ north
latitude, by Sir James C. Ross, during the latter part of June, 1823, on Parry’s second
voyage. Since then a few birds were seen by some of the following expeditions. Ac-
cidental stragglers to southern countries were obtained in Kamtschatka, England,
Fardées, Heligoland, and six specimens found their way to European collections from
Greenland. During the Austro-Hungarian ‘Tegethoff’ expedition, one was obtained
off Franz-Josef Land, but was lost when the vessel was crushed in the ice, and Profes-
sor Nordenskjéld was fortunate enough to secure at the ‘ Vega’s’ winter quarters a bird

of the Maori,

80 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

in summer plumage, on July 1, 1879. None had been obtained by Americans, or had
found their way to any American collection, though all our earlier expeditions had been
on a sharp lookout for the rare and beautiful bird, until Mr. E. W. Nelson, the col-
lector of the U. S. National Museum, brought home from Alaska a young one
obtained at St. Michaels, Oct. 10, 1879. Three days earlier, in north latitude 71° 50’
north of Siberia, on the ill-fated ‘Jeannette, Mr. R. L. Neweomb shot two in au-
tumnal plumage, and, during the drift of the vessel in the ice the following year, he
secured specimens in the latter part of June; altogether he obtained eight birds.
But when he had to leave the doomed ship, “ when it was a question of saving their
bare lives, and the necessaries of existence which each one of the shipwrecked crew
could carry had to be weighed literally by the ounce, Mr. Newcomb gallantly stuck to
three of these birds, and brought them in safety across Asia and Europe to the Smith-

FiG. 34. — Rhodostethia rosea, Ross's gull.

sonian Institution.’ In the records of collecting, we can call to mind no similar
instance of bull-dog tenacity, remark the editors of “The Ibis,” when commenting
upon the heroic deed. Finally, Mr. J. Murdock, naturalist of the Point Barrow expe-
dition, collected a great number of adults and young during the latter part of
September and the beginning of October, 1882, when flocks, evidently migrating,
passed the Point, coming along the coast from the southwest. He sent home to the
National Museum a greater number of specimens than had ever been observed before.
For all that, nobody has yet found the breeding place, and no one has collected its
eggs or its downy young, or observed its habits; nor have we any information con-
cerning where it spends the winter. But the mystery is not so great as it was;
Ross’s gull has been found all round the North Pole, and it is safe to predict that it

TERNS. 81

breeds on the islands of that yet untrodden region, inhabited by several other species
of birds, the breeding grounds of which have not been reached by the explorer and
collector. In winter it probably follows the edge of the ice, thus avoiding the shores
and the vicinity of man.

The gulls having already occupied more space than was originally allotted them,
we will have only to mention the kittiwakes (Jtissa tridactyla and brevirostris) popu-
lating the Arctic bird-rookeries, the dazzling white ivory-gull (Gavia alba) from the
icy circumpolar regions, and the fork-tailed gulls, constituting the genus Yema, one
of which, X. sadinii, inhabits the high north, while the other, XY. furcata, a bird ex-
tremely rare in collections, is a resident of a probably very restricted area in the
tropics, possibly of the Galapagos Islands alone.

Of those just mentioned, the kittiwake is perhaps most interesting, because of
the immense number of birds composing their breeding colonies, an account of which
will be of great interest, and we therefore take pleasure in introducing the following
sketch, by Henry Seebohm, of one of those rookeries.

“The largest colony of birds which I have ever seen is that at Sverholt, not far
from the North Cape, in Norway, on the cliffs which form the promontory between
the Porsanger and the Lakse Fjords. It is a stupendous, range of cliffs, nearly a thou-
sand feet high, and so crowded with nests that it might easily be supposed that all the
kittiwakes in the world had assembled there to breed. The number of birds has,
however, been grossly exaggerated. If we estimate the surface of the cliff covered
by the nests at about 640,000 square feet, and allow for each nest a foot in width and
two feet and a half in height, we obtain a total of (say) a quarter of a million breed-
ing birds. Supposing the non-breeding birds to be ten to one, surely a very high esti-
mate, we only reach five and a half million birds. When a recent writer says that
‘the number of individuals must amount to milliards, or thousands of millions, he is
simply talking unmitigated nonsense, and obviously has no conception of what a mil-
liard is. One milliard kittiwakes laid in a row, and touching one another, would reach
twenty times round the world. But in spite of all this tall talk, the number is in-
eredible. It is the custom to fire off a cannon opposite the colony; peal after peal
echoes and re-echoes from the cliffs, every ledge appears to pour forth an endless
stream of birds, and long before the last echo has died away, it is overpowered by the
cries of the birds, whilst the air in every direction exactly resembles a snowstorm, but
a snowstorm in a whirlwind. The birds fly in cohorts ; those nearest the ship are all
flying in one direction, beyond them other cohorts are flying in a different direction,
and so on, until the extreme distance is a confused mass of snowflakes. It looks as if
the fjord was a large chaldron of air, in which the birds were floating, and as if the
floating mass was being stirred by an invisible rod. The seething mass of birds made
an indelible impression on my memory; it photographed itself on my mind’s eye,
as such scenes often do.”

The chief characteristic of the terns, as distinguished from the gulls, have already
been given on a previous page. In their habits they resemble the gulls, especially the
smaller species, but in the same way as their appearance and structure is, so to
speak, a kind of intensification of the gull type; so are also their habits and peculi-
arities, like those of the gulls, in a maximized and intensified degree. Let us, for
instance, mention only their curiosity. Thus writes J. F. Naumann, the famous
German ornithologist, of Sterna paradisca, the arctic tern: “When something new
happens, such a bird soon arrives, inspects it closely, and, fluttering over it, gives out a

VOL. Iv. —6

82 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

ery that in a moment brings together quite a gathering, which, after having satisfied
their curiosity, disperses by and by. If a new mound of earth be thrown up, or a
handkerchief or a piece of paper be lost, or if they see a recently killed bird lying, or
a captured one flapping its wings, immediately are they at hand, flutter and vacillate,
screaming over the object of their admiration, and, when through gaping and tired of
crying, fly off in different directions.”

Did space permit, long and interesting accounts could be given of the terns, but
we are compelled to dismiss them with but few words.

<

Fig. 35. — Sterna tschegrava, Caspian tern.

The terns exhibit in their flight some remote resemblance to the swallows, which,
in connection with the usually deeply forked tail, has given rise to the name of sea-
swallows, as they are called in many languages ; while the elegance of their motions
when on the wing has caused many an enthusiastic outburst both of poets and
naturalists. “ Light as a sylph,” says Audubon, “the arctic tern dances through the
air above and around you. The Graces, one might imagine, had taught it to perform
those beautiful gambols which you see it display the moment you approach the spot
it has chosen for its nest.” The terns only seize their prey, which usually consists of
small fishes, by darting headlong upon them from a considerable height, and the force
of their sudden and dashing plunges is really astonishing. | “The descent of a tern,”

SKIMMERS. 83

to quote from Mr. William Brewster’s excellent paper on the terns of the New Eng-
land coast, “upon its victim is performed with inimitable ease and grace. The bird
frequently disappears entirely beneath the surface, and occasionally even swims a
short distance under water before reappearing.” His description of the scene when a
flock of terns have discovered a school of blue-fish is so animated and picturesque,
that I feel justified in quoting once more: “ Dozens dash down at once, cleaving the
water like darts, and, rising again into the air, shake the salt spray from their feathers
by a single energetic movement, and make ready for a fresh plunge. Every bird
among them is screaming his shrillest, and the excitement waxes fast and furious.
Beneath, the blue-fish are making the water boil by their savage rushes, and there is
fun and profit for all save the unfortunate prey.”

Though a group of considerable homogeneity, the Sterneze comprise a few somewhat
outlying genera, as the noddies (Anows), dusky of color, and the white terns (Gygis)
pure white all over, both forms with graduated or wedge-shaped tails. Both are trop-
ical, the latter especially inhabiting the islands of the South Atlantie and the Indian
Ocean, Polynesia, and Australia, while numbers of the former genus also occur in the
New World, a single species (A. stolidus) even belonging to the fauna of the United
States. The genus (or rather super-genus) Sterna, includes about fifty species,
among them our common terns, but is divisible into several more or less well-defined
groups. Thus the bird represented in our cut (Sterna tschegrava or caspia), the
largest species, is the type of Zhalasseus, while the smallest species—for instance, our
S. antillarum and the European S, minuta—form the group Sternula.

We now come to a small group of Laroid birds, remarkable for their curious bill,
the lower mandible of which has been compared with a “ short-handled pitchfork,”
and for their long wings, viz., the skimmers, the Rhynchopinz, not less remarkable for
their peculiar habits and their geographical distribution, parts of America, Asia, and
Africa being inhabited by one species each, The American species (thynchops nigra),
the black skimmer, or shearwater, as it is also called, which occurs on our east
coast up to New Jersey, has found many excellent biographers and describers, from
whom we only make two selections. Our immortal Wilson thus deseribes this singular
bird: “The shearwater is formed for skimming, while on wing, the surface of the sea
for its food, which consists of small fish, shrimps, young fry, ete., whose usual
haunts are near the shore and towards the surface. That the lower mandible, when
dipped into and cleaving the water, might not retard the bird’s way, it is thinned and
sharpened like the blade of a knife; the upper mandible, being at such times elevated
above water, is curtailed in its length, as being less necessary, but tapering gradually
to a point, that, on shutting, it may offer less opposition. To prevent inconvenience
from the rushing of the water, the mouth is confined to the mere opening of the gul-
let, which indeed prevents mastication taking place there; but the stomach, or gizzard,
to which this business is solely allotted, is of uncommon hardness, strength, and mus-
cularity; far surpassing, in these respects, any other water bird with which I am
acquainted. To all these is added a vast expansion of wing, to enable the
bird to sail with sufficient celerity while dipping in the water. The general
proportion of the length of our swiftest hawks and swallows to their breadth is as
one to two; but in the present case, as there is not only the resistance of the air, but
also that of the water, to overcome, a still greater volume of wing is given, the shear-
water measuring nineteen inches in length, and upwards of forty-four in extent. In
short, whoever has attentively examined this curious apparatus, and observed the pos-

84 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

sessor, with his ample wings, long bending neck, and lower mandible, occasionally
dipped into, and ploughing, the surface, and the facility with which he procures his
food, cannot but consider it a mere playful amusement, when compared with the dash-
ing immersions of the tern, the gull, or the fish-hawk, who, to the superficial observer,
appear so superiorly accommodated.”

Darwin observed the skimmer in South America. That excellent observer gives
us the following account of its habits: “Near Maldonado (in May), on the borders
of a lake which had been nearly drained, and which in consequence swarmed with
small fry, I watched many of these birds flying backwards and forwards for hours
together, close to its surface. They kept their bills wide open, and with the lower
mandible half buried in the water. Thus skim-
ming the surface, generally in small flocks, they
ploughed it in their course; the water was quite
smooth, and it formed a most curious spectacle to
behold a flock, each bird leaving its narrow wake
on the mirror-like surface. In their flight they
often twisted about with extreme rapidity, and
so dexterously managed, that they ploughed up
small fish with their projecting lower mandibles,
and secured them with the upper half of their
scissor-like bills. This fact I repeatedly witnessed,
as, like swallows, they continued to fly backwards
and forwards, close before me. Occasionally,
when leaving the surface of the water, their flight
was wild, irregular, and rapid; they then also
uttered lond, harsh cries. When these birds were
seen fishing, it was obvious that the length of
the primary feathers was quite necessary in order
to keep their wings dry. When thus employed,
their forms resembled the symbol by which many
artists represent marine birds. The tail is much
used in steering their irregular course.”

It has already been hinted at, on a previous
page, that the super-family PROCELLAROI-

: DEB might perhaps better constitute a sepa-

Fic. 36.—Skeleton of giant Funan, rate order, Tubinares. Their differences from
all the foregoing birds are many and important,

and their affinities seem to be more with the Steganopodes and Herodiones than with
the gulls or the auks, to some of which many of the petrels show a remarkable external
and superficial resemblance. We will give their essential characters, as contrasted with
those of the Laroidex, in order to show this. The petrels are holorhinal, the gulls
schizorhinal ; the former have tubular nostrils, the latter normal ones; whenever a
hind toe is present, it consists in the petrels, of one phalanx only, while, in the gulls,
the normal number of two phalanges is always present, however rudimentary the toe ;
in the petrels, the great pectoral muscle is disposed in two quite separate layers, an
arrangement unknown in the gulls, and the pectoralis tertius of the former is entirely
unrepresented in the latter; the muscular formula of the legs in petrels is, as a rule,
ABX/Y, a combination, so far as we know, never found in the gulls; the form

Tt

ALBATROSSES. 85

of the stomach and the characters of the exea are entirely different in the two
groups, and so are the characters of the plumages of the young (adult of both sexes,
and young, except the Albatrosses, being alike); the number and color of egos, ete.,
all points of special importance in settling the question of affinity» Some of the
peculiarities are quite unique among existing birds ; for instance, the tubular nostrils,
the structure of the hind toe, and the form of the stomach,—features which should
secure a distinct position for the group, it being, as mentioned above, rather probable
that the Tubinares should be placed in the neighborhood of the Steganopodes and
Herodii, notwithstanding the desmognathism of the latter, since the palate in the
albatrosses, though yet schizognathous, shows a decided tendency towards becoming
desmognathous, being, in fact, intermediate between these two categories of palatal
structure. At all events, Professor Huxley’s remark, that “the gulls grade insensibly
into the Procellariidz,” has been shown, by the researches of Garrod and Forbes, to
be entirely erroneous, since, from their investigations, it is evident, that the Procel-
laroidex represent the rather specialized offshoot (in some features) of a very general-
ized ancestor, being certainly a group of considerable isolation, great antiquity, and
consequently highly interesting to the systematic ornithologist.

We shall here adhere to the commonly accepted division of this group, in three
families, Diomedidz, Procellariid, and Pelecanoidide ; the first one characterized by
the lateral and separate position of the nasal tubes, while the last is remarkable for
the shortness of its wings and the total absence of a hind toe. The albatrosses have
usually been regarded as three-toed, but, while one genus really has a minute external
hind toe, the ossicles, or rudimentary bones of a fourth toe, have been found under-
neath the skin in the others; the toe proper, in all cases, consisting of one phalanx only.
We cannot pass by in silence, however, the arrangement proposed by Garrod and
Forbes, distributing the Tubinares in two primary groups, according to the presence
(Oceanitid) or absence (Procellariide) of the leg-muscle Y (accessory semiten-
dinosus), and the corresponding absence and presence of colic ceca, together with a
number of other characters: but we are not prepared to regard these features as so
important as those which constitute the characteristic marks of the three families
mentioned above, though, with Robert Ridgway, we are willing to admit the Oceani-
tinz as a sub-family under the Procellariide.

The first family, then, consists of the albatrosses (Diomepip.2z), those long-winged
ocean-birds, which, for hundreds and hundreds of miles, follow the vessels over the
tropical and southern seas, circling about them monotonously day after day, picking
up the offal, arousing the tired sailor’s admiration by the power and endurance of
their scarcely moving wings, which seem never to know or need a rest. One of the
most important characters of the family has already been mentioned, viz., that the
tubes by which the nostrils open outwardly are situated one on each side of the bill,
and not more or less closely united on top of the culmen, as in the other families.
Whether this feature is an old and generalized one, indicating the way by which,
finally, the curious and unique ‘double-barrel’ on top of the bill was formed, or
whether it represents an arrested development during embryonic life, cannot be dis-
cussed here. It can only be noted that the albatrosses, so far as color of plumage is
concerned, seem to be more generalized than the rest, the young ones being decidedly
different from the adults. On the other hand, they
specialization in some respects; for instance, the proportionate great length of the
upper arm-bone, the consequent enormous length and peculiar shape of the wing, and

have reached a high degree of

86 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the great number of secondaries. Formerly, two other distinctive marks were attri-
buted to the albatrosses, viz., want of aftershafts, and lack of hind toe, but rudiments
both of the former and of the latter have recently been proved to exist.

The longest-and perhaps best known species is the wandering albatross (Diomedea
exulans), the one represented by the accompanying cut, the largest water-bird in exis-
tence, and the bird with the greatest stretch of wing, some specimens being said to

FiG. 37. — Diomedea exulans, wandering albatross.

measure fourteen feet between the tips of the wings. The color is white, more or less
waved, and vermiculated with blackish, the hand-feathers being black; the eye is
brown, the naked ring round it light greenish, the bill pinkish white, and the legs of
alight flesh color. Like all the members of the family, they are inter-tropical and
sub-antarctic in their distribution, and it is a significant fact which should not be lost
sight of, when discussing the affinities and genesis of the Tubinares, that the group
reaches its greatest development and number of forms south of the equator.

No traveler has witnessed the albatross in the state of nature without expressing

ALBATROSSES. 87

his enthusiasm when describing its sailing flight. Says Dr. Bennett: “It is pleasing
to observe this superb bird sailing in the air, in graceful and elegant movements, seem-
ingly excited by some invisible power; for there is scarcely any movement of the
wings seen after the first and frequent impulses are given, when the creature elevates
itself in the air, rising and falling as if some concealed power guided its various
motions, without any muscular exertion of its own.” J. Gould is still more enthu-
siastic: “ The powers of flight of the wandering albatross are much greater than
those of any other bird that has come under my observation. Although during calm
or moderate weather it sometimes rests on the surface of the water, it is almost con-
stantly on the wing — and is equally at ease while passing over the glassy surface,
during the stillest calm, or flying with meteor-like swiftness before the most furious
gale ; and the manner in which it just tops the raging billows, and sweeps before the
gulfy waves, has, a hundred times, called forth my wonder and admiration. Although
a vessel running before the wind frequently sails more than two hundred miles in the
twenty-four hours, and that for days together, still the albatross has not the slightest
difficulty in keeping up with the ship, but also performs circles of many miles in
extent, returning again to hunt up the wake of the vessel for any substances thrown
overboard.” It is generally asserted that the albatrosses and petrels which follow the
vessels are able to continue their flight without any rest, to speak of, for days and
weeks, thus showing an almost incredible power of flight, and many interesting experi-
ments with captured and marked birds are cited.

Of another species, the black-eyebrowed albatross, (). melanophrys) Mr. Gould,
for instance, says; “It is very easily captured with a hook and line, and, as this opera-
tion gives not the least pain to the bird, the point of the hook merely taking hold in
the horny and insensible tip of the bill, I frequently amused myself by capturing
specimens in this way, and setting them at liberty again, after having marked many,
in order to ascertain whether the individuals which were flying round the ship at
night-fall were the same that were similarly engaged at daylight in the morning, after
anight’s run of 120 miles; and this, in many instances, proved to be the case.” Capt.
F. W. Hutton, however, who has made the flight of these birds a special study, came
to different conclusions and asserts that the cases where a single individual is found
to follow a ship for any length of time are exceptions, and that the habits of the alba-
trosses are quite diurnal. “It is, I believe,” he says, “the generally received opinion
of naturalists that these birds, when seen for several days together, have never slept
during the whole period, but have followed the ship night and day. To me, however,
it appears incredible that any animal should be able to undergo so much exertion for
so long a time without taking rest; and I hope to show that it is not necessary to
suppose that it does do so. Mr. Gould says that birds caught and marked are generally
seen next day; but such is not my experience. I have sometimes marked ten or
twelve Cape-pigeons (Daption capense, one of the Procellariide) in a day, and seldom
seen one again. Mr. Gould, however, is quite right when he says that sometimes a
marked bird turns up after being absent for two or three days ; and how can this be
accounted for except by the theory of the birds constantly following the ship? A few
certainly can be often seen flying under the stern at night. Still they are never numer-
ous; and where there were fifty or a hundred birds in the daytime there are only one
ortwoatnight. I therefore believe that, although a few may follow a ship for a night,
most of them sleep in the sea, and in the morning, knowing very well that a ship is
the most likely place to obtain food, they fly high with the intention of looking for

88 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

one. Some find the ship that they were with the day before, some another one. In
the latter case, if the second ship is going in an opposite direction to the first, they
are never seen by the first again; if, however, the course of the two ships is the same,
the bird might, very likely, lose the second ship, and rejoin the first, after a lapse of
two or three days. A height of 1000 feet would enable a bird to see a ship 200 feet
high more than fifty miles off, and often, although unable to see a ship itself, it would
see another bird which had evidently discovered one, and would follow it in the same
way that vultures are known to follow one another. This opinion is much strength-
ened by the fact that at sunrise very few birds are round the ship, but soon afterwards
they begin to arrive in large numbers.” The same author enlarges on the general
history, especially the breeding habits of the albatross, a condensed account of which
will be found very interesting. The wandering albatrosses are very common south of
latitude 40° S. and monopolize nearly the whole of the Prince Edward’s Islands and
the south-east portion, or lee-side, as the sealers call it, of Kerguelen Island, to which
places they retire to breed in October. The nest, which is always placed on high
table lands, is in the shape of the frustrum of a cone, with a slightly-hollowed top, and
is made of grass and mud, which the birds obtain by digging a circular ditch, about
two yards in diameter, and pushing the earth towards the centre, until it is about
eighteen inches high. In this nest the female bird lays one white egg, which is not
hatched until January. It is asserted, upon the authority of Mr. Richard Harris,
engineer of the Royal Navy, that the old birds leave their young and go to sea, and
do not return until the next October. “ Each pair goes at once to its old nest, and
after a little fondling of the young one, which has remained in or near the nest the
whole time, they turn it out, and repair the nest for the next brood.” Hutton thinks
that the old ones go to sea when the young are about three months old, and that the
latter are nocturnal in their habits, and go down to the sea at night to feed, returning
to their nests in the morning, though Harris’s testimony is to the effect that the young
during that period are unable to fly. Mr. C. J. Anderson has suggested that the
young birds “live on their own fat” while the parents are absent, and asks: “If
other animals can live for several consecutive months on their own fat, why not
birds ?”

The Procetiarup is the group richest in species, comprising, as it does, about
seventy different forms, in size varying from that of a sparrow, as the stormy petrels
(Procellaria, and Oceanodroma), to that of one of the smaller species of albatrosses,
as the giant fulmar ( Ossifraga gigantea). The most essential external characters are
the tubular nostrils on top of the culmen, combined with long wings, and the presence
of asmall hind toe. Inter se the members of this family group themselves around
several somewhat diverging centres, forming more or less separate groups; most inter-
esting, as far as anatomical peculiarities are concerned, being the so-called sub-family
Oceanitine, which comprises four genera of small stormy-petrel-like birds, the most
striking feature of which are the small number of secondaries (ten only), the booted
or transversely scutellate, but never reticulate tarsus, the flat and depressed claws,
the length of the tarsus, absence of colie ecaeca, presence of an accessory semitendi-
nosus muscle, ete. Typical is Wilson’s petrel (Oceanites oceanica), like a ‘ Mother
Carey’s chicken,’ but with long, booted tarsus, and the webs between the toes yellow,
and also belonging to the North American fauna, though its centre of distribution
seems to be in the southern seas. It breeds, among other places, also on Kerguelen’s
Island, to which the following sketch of its breeding-places by Rey. A. E. Eaton

DIVING PETRELS. * 89

applies: “ Carefully watching the birds flying to and fro about the rocks, we observed
that they occasionally disappeared into crevices amongst piles of loose stones, and
crept under loose masses of rock. Having meanwhile ascertained their call, we were
able, by listening attentively, to detect the exact positions of several of these hidden
birds. They were easily caught when the stones were rolled aside ; but they were in
couples, merely preparing for laying, and therefore we did not find any eggs.” It
may be remarked that the petrels usually are found in pairs in the holes before the
breeding commences. Later, only one of the parents occupies the nest, while the other
one brings food to the breeding mate during the night; after the chick is hatched,
both parents stay away during the day, only visiting and feeding it after dark. “The
egg,” Mr. Eaton continues, “is laid upon the bare ground, within the recess selected
by the birds, either in a chance depression formed by contiguous stones, or in a shallow,
circular hollow excavated in the earth by the parent. Having found numbers of their
nesting-places I will describe my method of searching for them. Whenever there was
a calm night, I used to walk with a darkened bull’s-eye lantern towards some rocky
hillside, such as the petrels would be likely to frequent. It was best to shut off the
light and keep it concealed, using it only in dangerous places where falls would be
attended with injury, and progress in the dark was hardly possible, lest the birds, see-
ing it, should be silenced. On arriving at the ground selected, it was probable that
storm petrels would be heard in various directions, some on the wing, others on their
nests, sounding their call at intervals of from two to five minutes. Those on nests
could be distinguished from others flying, by their cries proceeding from fixed posi-
tions. Having settled which of the birds should be searched after, a cautious advance
had to be made in her direction, two or three steps at a time, when she was in full
cry. As soon as she ceased, an abrupt halt was imperative, and a pause of some min-
utes might ensue before she recommenced her ery and permitted another slight
advance to be effected. In the course of this gradual approach, the position of the
bird might be ascertained approximately; but it had to be determined precisely, and
to learn exactly where she was, she had to be stalked in the dark noiselessly. No gleam
could be permitted to escape from the lantern. Loose stones, and falls over rocks, —
to avoid them it was sometimes necessary to dispense with slippers, and feel one’s way
in stockings only, for should the petrel be alarmed once with the noise or the light,
she would probable remain silent a considerable time. Now and then it would happen
that, upon the boulder beneath which she was sitting being almost attained, the bird
would cease calling. When this ocenrred, and many minutes elapsed without her ery
being resumed, it was advisable to make a detour, and approach the rock from the
opposite side, as her silence might be attributed to her seeing a person advancing
towards her, and she would probably recommence her call as soon as he was out of
sight. If she did not, a small pebble thrown amongst the rocks would usually elicit
some sounds from her, as she would most likely conclude that the noise was being
made by her mate returning to the nest. When the stone beneath which the bird
was domiciled was gained at last, redoubled care had to be exercised. By
stooping down, and listening very attentively, her position could be accurately
ascertained. Then the lantern was suddenly turned upon her before she had time to
creep out of sight, and her egg could be secured with the hand, or with a spoon ti d
on to a stick.”

Among the Procellariine several groups may also be distinguished: first, the
small stormy petrels, ‘Mother Carey’s chickens, as they are usually called.

90 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Another group is represented by the genus Prion, very remarkable for its very
peculiar and broad bill, which is provided with a fringe of lamellw, somewhat similar
to those of the ducks.

The well-known ‘Cape pigeon’ (Daption capense) also shows rudiments of
lamellie, but is rather referable to the next group, including the fulmars. The bird
represented in the cut is the /udmarus glacialis, already mentioned in the Introdue-
tion for its remarkable dichromatism. To this group also belong the giant fulmar
( Ossifraga gigantea), from the southern seas, nearly as large as the smaller albatrosses,
and dichromatic, like its northern relative. The last group comprises several genera

Fic. 38. — Fulmarus glacialis, arctic fulmar.

of shearwaters (which are characterized by a four-notched sternum), including the very
remarkable genus Bulweria, which has a wedge-shaped tail, and the highly specialized
muscular formula AX,

The third and last family of the Tubinares are the PELECANOIDID®. In their
external appearance they present a striking resemblance to several of the smaller auks,
being adapted to the same mode of life, and this adaptation has not only affected
their external characters, the length of wings, ete., but also some of their anatomical
features; for instance, the compressed form of the wing bones, the elongated sternuin,
and the very long and obliquely placed ribs, have been modified in the same direction,
so as to resemble the corresponding parts of auks and guillemots, though these analo-
gies do not indicate any nearer relationship; of course, the opposite view being only
founded upon a complete misconception of their whole structure. Compared with
other Tubinares, we note that the end of the nasal tubes, on top of the bill, is cut off

DIVING PETRELS. 91

obliquely, so that the nostrils open upwards, a feature evidently produced by the diy-
ing habit, in order to prevent water from being forced into the ‘nose,’ as this tube,
with great propriety, may be called. The total absence even of a rudiment of a hind
toe is notable, and so is the absence of an ambiens muscle, and of the accessory Jemora-
caudal, and accessory semitendinosus. It is, in short, a group quite generalized, as is
evident from many of its anatomical features, though highly specialized in all that is
affected by its diving habits. The group is very restricted in forms, and its geograph-
ical distribution is tropical and antarctic. Rey. A. E. Eaton, from whom we have
quoted above in another connection, writes of Pelecanoides urinatrix, the common
diving petrel, which he observed at Kerguelen Island, as follows: ‘This bird, as
Professor Wyville Thomson well observes, has a close general likeness to .4l/e alle.
Both of them have a hurried flight ; both of them, while flying, dive into the sea with-
out any interruption in the action of their wings, and also emerge from beneath the
surface flying, and they both of them swim with the tail rather deep in the water.
But this resemblance does not extend to other particulars of their habits. The rotche,
when breeding, usually flies and fishes in small flocks of six or a dozen birds, and builds
in communities of considerable size, which are excessively noisy. Diving petrels, on
the other hand, are more domestic in their mode of living, fishing and flying for the
most part in pairs or alone, and building sporadically. — They had begun to pair
when we reached Kerguelen Island. The first egg was found on the 31st of October.
Their burrows are about as small in diameter as the holes of bank martins ( Clivicola
riparia) ov kingtishers (Alcedo ispida). They are made in dry banks and slopes,
where the ground is easily penetrable, and terminate in an enlarged chamber on whose
floor the ege is deposited. Some of the burrows are branched, but the branches are
without terminal enlargements, and do not appear to be put to any use by the birds.
Before the egg is laid, both of the parents may be found in the nest-chamber, and may
often be heard moaning in the daytime: but when the females begin to sit, their call
is seldom heard, excepting at night, when the male in his flight to and from the hole,
and his mate on her nest, make a considerable noise. There seems to be a difference
of a semi-tone between the moans of the two sexes. The call resembles the syllable
£00’ pronounced with the mouth closed, while a slurred chromatic ascent is being
made from E to C in the tenor.”

OrpvER VII.—GRALL.

The order Grallw, as here defined, is still a rather heterogeneous assemblage,
though formerly in a much worse condition, for the Grallw of olden times comprised,
besides those here admitted, the whole order Herodii, and the super-families, Anhim-
oideex and Pheenicoptroider. It would, perhaps, be an improvement to remove the
first two super-families of the present order, viz., Chionoidew and Scolopacoides, to
the foregoing order, retaining the name Gralle for the remaining forms only, and we
may expect to see the step taken some day.

As it is, the members of the present order may, in general, be distinguished from
those of the foregoing one by the absence of full webs between the anterior toes.
True, we have a few ‘waders,’ with entirely palmate feet, viz., the avocets, but the
enormous length of their legs, and the long and thin bill, make them separable from
arty and all of the Cecomorphe at first sight. They are all schizognathous, most of

92 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

them with the vomer pointed in front, have two carotids and aftershaft; they all pos-
sess the ambiens muscle, as also the semitendinosus, and the accessory slip of the
latter.

Generally, the ‘ waders’ may be said to be littoral in their habits, only few of them
being exclusively terrestrial, avoiding the water as carefully as most of them do the
open ocean; the shores of the sea and the lakes, the banks of the rivers, and the
swamps and marshes are inhabited by some form of this polymorphic group, the mem-
bers of which are distributed all over the globe, from the icy neighborhood of the
poles to the hottest regions under the equatorial sun.

One of the most interesting of all the many interesting and puzzling forms of this
order are the birds which compose the super-family CHIONOIDEA. The early
systematists realized the isolated position of the sheath-bills, and gave the group
set aside for them various names, as Vaginati, Coleoramphi, etc., the curiously con-
structed bill being the most obvious character. But in regard to the relative taxo-
nomic rank of the group, opinions have differed widely, as it has been referred to
every possible grade from a mere genus to an order. Equally variable have been the
opinions of ornithologists as to their relationship, since some have referred them to
the Gallinaceous birds, others to the Longipennes near the gulls, others again to the
Gralle. The former based their conclusions chiefly upon the most external characters
and the alleged gallinaceous habits of the birds, the latter took chiefly the internal
anatomy into consideration. And, indeed, it seems as if both those advocating their
place near the gulls, and those urging their affinity to the plovers and oyster-catchers,
are right, for the sheath-bills are so intermediate between them that it is difficult to
say where they should rather go, though the -present writer is inclined to place them
with the latter. In fact they are hardly well placed before both Laroides and Chara-
drioide are united with the Chionoidez in the same order.

Notwithstanding the external difference between the members
of the two families composing this super-family, their mutual rela-
tionship has been understood for a considerable length of time,
chiefly, we think, on the authority of Bonaparte, who as early as
1832 united them in one family. Of characters which both
Chionidz and Thinocoride have in common, it may be mentioned
that they are schizorhinal, that they lack occipital foramina and
basipterygoid processes, but have supra-orbital impressions, that the
ambiens muscle, as well as the femoro-caudal, with the acces-
sory, and the semitendinosus, with its accessory slip are present
(ABXY-), that they have two carotids, ete. The most remark-
able internal feature is, perhaps, the shape of the vomer, which
is broad and rounded in front, while in other allied forms, Ceco-
morphous and Charadriomorphous, that bone is pointed or bifid
anteriorly. The palate, indeed, in this and some other respects,

shows some resemblance to that of the Passerine birds, this being

Fic. 39.— Lower sur- . . . . . . oe .
face of skull of at. especially the case with the Thinocorine palate, in which the yomer

tagis grayi. is connected with the nasal cartilages in a manner recalling that

of the A2githognathe. ,

Like many, not to say most, of those perplexing forms which represent the earlier
offshoots, or remain as the last survivors of groups once numerous but long since
decimated, the Curioni, only two species, inhabit islands in the vast oceans of the

SHEATH-BILLS. 93

southern hemisphere, they being chiefly found on the islands adjacent to the southern
extremity of South America, — Kerguelen’s Island and the Crozets.

The most remarkable and quite unique structure of these birds is the saddle-shaped
horny sheath, overlying the base of the culmen and partly concealing the nostrils, —
hence the name sheath-bill. This sheath is continued backward into a kind of hood
covering the face, being naked and carunculated on the lores and ocular region, but
densely feathered on the forehead, as represented in the accompanying cut. The Dill
and the naked skin are yellowish in Chionis alba, black in Ch. minor, the latter also dif-
fering considerably in the shape of the sheath. On the carpus is a knob-shaped promi-
nence which supports a wing spur. The plumage of both species is dazzlingly white all
over. The feet are covered with a reticulate skin, both in front and behind; four
toes are present, having the normal
number of phalanges, which diminish in
size from the basal to the terminal one,
only very small webs connecting the an-
terior toes at the base.

The habits of Ch. minor, which in-
habits Kerguelen’s Island and the Cro-
zets,— unless the bird of the latter, which
seems to have darker legs, is a separable . ;
form, —haye been only very recently in- Tile satan
vestigated, and specimens are still very
rare in collections. The recent Ameri-
can, English, and German Transit-of-Venus expeditions to that desolate shore have
furnished us with excellent descriptions of the manners and peculiarities of that
species. All observers agree as to their resemblance in appearance, manner of
caressing one another, gait and flight, to pigeons or ptarmigans. Dr. Kidder saw
them eat only soft, green seaweed when in the wild state, but Mr. Eaton, of the
English party, asserts that they also feed on mussels and isopod Crustacea, and that
they greedily devour shags’ and penguins’ eggs. The former observer enlarges upon
their great tameness and curiosity. They nest in holes between or behind rocks, laying
one to three eggs, which somewhat resemble those of the oyster-catcher, toward the
end of December and the beginning of January. The chicks are covered with a uni-
form slate-gray down. Males and females are alike, but the loral caruncle is smaller
in the latter, which also has the carpal spine smaller and flesh-colored, and not black
as has the male. The young birds are like the adults, but have pink tips to their
wings.

The Turvocori#, a family consisting of two genera, Thinocorus and Attagis, with
together a little more than half a dozen species, inhabit South America down to
Magelhaen’s Strait and the Falkland Islands; in the tropical portions they occur, how-
ever, only in the elevated regions. Externally they resemble, in size and color, quails
or partridges, the analogy being carried so far as to also embrace the shortness of the
legs, but the long and pointed wings, with the long secondaries, at once suggest their
affinity with the Scolopacoid birds. At first they were regarded as Gallinaceous birds,
while some authors referred them to the pigeons or sand-grouse; but the Limicoline
pterylosis and the many obvious structural characters soon secured place for them
among the Grallz. Finally, Professor Garrod, in 1874, settled the question beyond
dispute, by giving an account of all their anatomical characteristics. From his inves-

Fia. 40. — Head of Chionis alba, white sheath-bill.

94 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

tigations it is clear that they have strong affinities to Glareola and other Charadrcid
Gralle. In fact, they incline toward the latter as does Chionis toward the gulls.
The most noteworthy peculiarity of their structure is the formation of the palate,
which is of a “ spuriously «githognathous nature,” on account of the broad, anteriorly
rounded yomer, and the manner in which the nasal cartilages are there connected, as
originally shown by Professor Parker.

The habits of the Thinocoride are very little known, and what we know consists
chiefly of what Darwin and—nearly forty years after—Mr. Durnford have ascer-
tained and published concerning the ‘gachita, as Thinocorus rumicivorus is called in
Buenos Ayres, according to Mr. Hudson. The former says: “This very singular
bird, which in its habits and appearance partakes of the character both of a wader
and one of the Gallinaceous order, is found wherever there are sterile plains, or open,
dry pasture land, in southern South America. Upon being approached they lie close,
and then are very difficult to be distinguished from the ground. When feeding they
walk rather slowly, with their legs wide apart. They dust themselves in roads and
sandy places.” He goes on, showing that in all these respects of habit and external
appearance the bird resembles a-quail. ‘ But,” he continues, “directly the bird is
seen flying, one’s opinion is changed ; the long, pointed wings, so different from those
in the gallinaceous order, the high, irregular flight, and plaintive ery uttered at the
moment of rising, recall the idea of a snipe. The sportsmen of the ‘ Beagle’ unani-
mously called it the ‘short-billed snipe.” Mr. Durnford ascertained that they breed
in Patagonia and visit Buenos Ayres in winter [May to September], sometimes in
large flocks. He lays especial stress upon this similarity in habits to the quails and
sand-pipers. “When disturbed,’ he says, “they fly round, uttering a low whistle,
and invariably alight head to wind. They remind me of flocks of Calidris arenaria
(the sanderling) as they stand motionless on the ground.” During his journey in
central Patagonia (1877-78), he was able to discover its breeding habits, of which he
gives the following account: “I took eggs at the end of October; and the young
were running in the middle of November: but this species probably has two or more
broods in the season; for I found chicks in March. The nest is a slight depression
in the ground, sometimes lined with a few blades of grass; and before leaving it
the old bird covers up the eggs with little pieces of stick. The eggs are pale stone
ground-color, very thickly speckled with light and dark chocolate markings. The
chick is finely mottled all over with light and dark brown.”

As far as species and individuals are concerned, the super-family now following, the
SCOLOPACOIDE.#, makes up the bulk of the present order. The group is a rather
well circumscribed one, though a few forms are still in dispute, since some authors,
following Huxley and Forbes, are inclined to exclude the bustards and thick-knees as
being holorhinal. The question is one of the many in systematic ornithology which
cannot be settled at present, and the most judicious course is, probably, to establish a
separate super-family for the bustards, equivalent to those of the snipes and the cranes.
As the arrangement now is, the characters defining the groups are hardly absolutely
trenchant, but may be said in general to be the presence of narrow and prominent basi-
pterygoid processes and the slender and abruptly recurved process of the angle of the
mandible in the Scolopacoidew. They are all schizorhinal, except the Otidide and
(Edicnemide. The myological formula of the schizorhinal forms is ABXY or AXY;
that of the holorhinal members, ABXY or BXY. The bill is elongated and compara-
tively slender. The ratio of the phalanges of the toes is normal, that is, they diminish

PRATINCOLES. 95
in length from the basal phalange to the penultimate one. The pterylosis has no
characteristic features. This super-family is equivalent to the ‘order’ Limicolw, as
usually adopted, and the ‘group’ Charadriomorphe of Huxley.

The first family to meet us is that of the pratincoles or Grarronm.x, a small
group of Old World birds of very peculiar appearance. They have long pointed
wings and a rather long, deeply forked tail, a feature quite unique among Limicoline
birds. To this is added a rather compressed bill and deeply split mouth, besides ecom-
paratively short feet. On the whole they have a very great resemblance to some of
the smaller terns both in flight and habits. Nothing is more certain, however, than

Fia. 41. — Glareola pratincola, common pratincole.

that these birds are closely allied to the plovers, as also to members of the foregoing
super-family, especially the Chionis, with which they agree in lacking occipital
foramina and basipterygoid processes. That Linneus placed the common pratin-
cole (Glareola pratincola) in his genus Hirundo, on account of its forked tail and
deeply split mouth, is perhaps not so strange. But that Sundevall, as late as 1874,
denied the Charadriine affinities entirely, giving it place in the ‘family’ Caprimul-
gine as an aberrant group of goat-suckers, referring, as he did, to the large size of the
eyes, the form of the bill, the pectination of the long middle claw, and the somewhat
sideways position of the hind toe, shows how unsafe it is to rely upon external char-
acters alone in cases of intricate relationship. The species represented in the accom-

96 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

panying cut, Fig. 41, is the common pratincole, which is a regular summer visitor to the
Mediterranean sub-region and the valley of the lower Danube, sometimes straggling
northwards as far as Denmark and the British Islands. The color above is a fine
mouse-gray, the breast is similarly only somewhat lighter colored, shading backward
into buff and white; chin and throat of a rusty yellowish buff circumscribed by a
narrow velvety black band, which is set off by a white border; the under wing-coverts

—

«

Fic. 42. — Eudromias morinellus, dotterel, and Charadrius apricarius, golden-plover,

and axillaries are beautiful chestnut; the bill is black, brilliant vermilion at base;
feet reddish black. Size that of a small tern. The pratincole, says Mr. Seebohm,
who made the acquaintance of this bird in the valley of Danube, in Greece, and Asia
Minor, is an inhabitant of sandy plains, large marshes, and bare elevated country,
spending a considerable portion of its time in the air, hawking for insects like a
gigantic swallow, skimming along with graceful motion, wheeling and darting about,
chasing its prey in all directions. Upon the ground it is equally at its ease, and runs

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GRALLZ. 97

to and fro with surprising swiftness, in spite of its short legs. The flight is described
as swallow-like, or rather like that of the terns. The note, according to Seebohm, is
a peculiar rattle, impossible to express on paper, though the principal sound may be
represented by Ar rapidly repeated. Naumann mentions a peculiar movement of
this bird, which he says is exactly like the dipping of the body and jerking of the
tail of the wheat-ear (Saaicola cenanthe). The food of the pratincole consists exelu-
sively of insects, and an allied species (G. melanoptera), differing in having black
under wing-coverts, which occurs from southeastern Russia southwards as far as the
Cape Colony, is highly estimated as a valuable destroyer of the grasshoppers, accord-
ing to the interesting account given by the Austrian traveler, Mr, Holub.

Fic. 43. — Arenaria interpres, turnstone.

A small family, Dromapip&, with a single living representative (Dromas ardeola),
may find a proper resting place here after having been knocked around between the
herons and the terns. The aspect is that of a plover, or rather a thick-knee with a
somewhat large and peculiar bill, and Temminck guessed pretty near the truth when
he referred it to the neighborhood of the latter, for the Dutch zoologist, J. van der
Hoeven, has shown that the skeleton is very much like that of the oyster-catcher, next
to which we place it with the remark that it differs from the true Charadiidw in hay-
ing no occipital foramina and no basipterygoid processes, in these respects agreeing
with the foregoing families. The ‘crab-plover’ inhabits shores from India, westward

VOL. Iv. —7

98 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

to Africa, and southward to the Seychelles and Madagascar. Its habits remind us
both of the plover and the terns, and so do the unusually large eggs.

The family Cuaraprup, comprising the Plovers, forms a central and important
group of the present order, pretty well circumscribed and homogeneous, though a
number of outlying genera present rather trenchant characters, thereby tempting
the systematist to establish groups of family rank for their reception. ~ I refer to the
coursers, the turnstones and the oyster-catchers, of which only the latter group has
caused me some doubt. The turnstones (Arenaria) are somewhat peculiar, having a
bill of a type different from the common plover bill, and present in the muscular
formula of the leg, an unusual specialization, it being AXY against ABXY in the

Fic. 44. — Hematopus ostralegus, oyster-catcher.

rest. But the disappearance of the accessory femoro-caudal muscle cannot set off the
fact that the genus Aphriza, the affinities of which in both directions are manifest,
links the turnstones close to the plovers proper. The oyster-catchers (Heamatopus)
are more isolated, having a peculiarly wedge-shaped bill and large supra-orbital de-
pressions for the glands, but can hardly claim family rank, related as they are to the
turnstones. The latter form a genus consisting of only two species, the blackheaded
one (Arenaria melanocephalus), blackish and white, and exclusively Pacific, besides the
common species (A. interpres), which is nearly cosmopolitan in its distribution, and dis-
tineuished from the former by having rusty-brown margins to the feathers of the back
and wings; the feet are a beautiful vermilion red, and the bird is well represented in

GRALL/E. 99

the accompanying cut. Together with Pluvianellus sociabilis, from Magelhaen’s
Strait, and the surf-bird (Aphriza virgata), found on our western coast up to Alaska,
they constitute the sub-family Arenariine. The Hematopodine consists of a single.
genus, the different forms of which are distributed over nearly all the shores of the
globe, except the very Arctic regions. There are two styles of them,—one black
and white, like the European oyster-catcher on the foregoing page, and another
wholly black, both with intensely red beaks and reddish flesh-colored feet. They are

VR ALA

. A” ZA [| fi
eae Y?

A ew =

N23 we

Fic. 45. — Vanellus vanellus, peewit, lapwing.

very noisy and shy, and make themselves disagreeably conspicuous to the shore-hunter,
warning all other birds with their penetrating cry.

The Charadriine proper are cosmopolitan in their distribution, embracing the dif-
ferent kinds of plovers, being the most numerous group of the family, and are partic-
ularly characterized by the form of the bill, which is somewhat like that of a pigeon,
convex anteriorly and restricted at base. Being well-known birds we shall save space
for more unusual forms by only referring to the drawings (Fig. 42), and by quoting
the following, from Seebohm, concerning the peewit or lapwing ( Vanellus vanellus,
Fig. 45), which is a strictly Palearctic bird, sometimes straggling to Greenland and
Alaska. “The flight of this bird is very erratic and peculiar. Its wings are very

100 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

long and broad, and it flaps them in a regular, sedate manner. Now it soars upwards
for a few yards, seemingly without effort, then flapping its broad and rounded wings
it wheels round and round; then it darts rapidly down as if hurling itself to the
ground, and then, mounting the air again, with easy grace flies in everchanging course,
darting, wheeling, trembling, and reeling, as though beating time with its pinions to
its wailing and expressive cries. The lapwing becomes particularly clamorous at
night, and obtains much of its food in the dusk of the evening. At all hours its wild
expressive call may be heerd, as it floats on ever-moving pinions above its favorite
haunts. Its common note resembles the syllables pee-weet, or weet-a-weet, pee-weet-weet,
from which is derived one of its best known names. The eggs of the lapwing are
highly prized as articles of food, and a regular and extensive trade is done in them.
Thousands find their way to the London markets in the season, and fetch from four to

FG. 46. — Hoplopterus spinosus, spur-winged plover.

ten shillings a dozen.” This bird is one of the few waders that show metallic colors
in their plumage, the general color of the upper parts being a greenish to coppery
bronze.

Remarkable for the strong and sharp spur at the bend of the wing is the so-called
spur-winged plover (Hoplopterus spinosus), hairbrown, black and white, a native of
Africa, where it is one of the commonest birds of the Nile valley, but it occurs also
in southeastern Europe and the intermediate countries of western Asia. It claims
the distinction of being the ‘leech-eater’ or ‘trochilos’ of Herodotus, whose de-
scription, which is as follows, may rather belong to the black-headed plover, or, as it
is frequently called, ‘the crocodile bird’ (Pluvianus egyptius), also a native of
Egypt. “As the crocodile lives chiefly on the river, it has the inside of its mouth
constantly covered with leeches; hence it happens that, while all other birds and

CROOK-BILL PLOVER. 101

beasts avoid it, with the trochilos it lives at peace, since it owes much to that bird, for
the crocodile, when he leaves the water, and comes out upon the land, is in the habit of
lying with his mouth wide open, facing the western breeze; and such times the trochi-
los goes into his mouth and devours the leeches. This benefits the crocodile, who is
pleased, and takes care not to hurt the trochilos.” There is, however, some truth in
the old fable, for Alfred E. Brehm, who, during his travels in northeastern Africa,
studied the habits of these birds, asserts that he several times saw this plover without
hesitation running up and down the back of the crocodile, as if it were a green lawn,
in search of bugs and leeches, even daring to pick the teeth of its tremendous friend,
that is, literally to snatch away food particles which stuck between the teeth, or para-
sitic animals which had attached themselves to the mandibles and the gums.

Related to the last-mentioned bird, but on longer legs with shorter toes, a bill
somewhat resembling that of the pratincole, and of an isabel color corresponding to
the sand of the desert it inhabits, is the cream-colored courser (Cursorius cursor),
found throughout the southern portion of the Mediterranean province, but known as
a not uncommon straggler to the British Islands during the autumnal season. It
lives on the arid sand-plains or on the bare elevated plateaus, where scarcely a tuft of
scanty herbage or a bush is to be found. It loves to frequent the bases of sand-hills,
and is sometimes seen in the miserable desert pastures or amongst the
sand-dunes on the outskirts of the oasis. In these dismal uninteresting
regions the courser trips about in pairs, or less frequently in little parties.”

Completely unique in the shape of the bill, and probably forming a
small group of its own, is the so-called wry-billed, or crook-billed ployer
(Anarhynchus frontalis), since the end of the bill is not bent down, nor
recurved, but turned horizontally to the right, as shown in the accom-
panying cut. It was discovered in New Zealand by the French natura-
lists, Quoy and Gaimard, who, in 1833, published the first description of

this curious bird. The type in the Paris museum remained unique until pye, 47.— pin

1869, and the Anarhynchus became so apocryphal and dubious that G. Sietoore

R. Gray finally declared the alleged crook-bill to be an individual de- a ee
formity, an opinion shared by many ornithologists of that day. Never-

theless, the strange crookedness proved to be the normal shape of the bill, the deflex-
ion being obvious even in the chick in the egg. The singular beak is thus described
by Mr. Potts from a fresh specimen : —

«Bill longer than the head, pointed, curved to the right or off side, curled slightly
on itself in a leaf-like manner, a long groove on each side of the upper mandible; the
nostrils long, pierced not far from the base of the bill, fitted with a membranous pro-
cess, which, apparently furnished with a system of nerves, extends some distance
along the mandible; interior of both upper and lower mandibles concave or sulcate,
which form is maintained to the point; thus the inside of the bill, when the man-
dibles are closed, becomes a curved pipe, with a very slight twist. The tongue, when
at rest, lies well within the lower mandible; it is partly suleate in form, tapers to a
fine point, is much shorter than the beak, leaving a vacant space of six lines from its
extremity to the end of the lower mandible; the base is furnished on either side with
a few spines (three or four), planted in the same direction as those in the roof of
the upper mandible; the thick portion of the tongue is indented with four or five very
slight longitudinal furrows, terminating in the channel into which the tongue now
resolves itself, till it ends at the very acute point; this sulcate form is attained by the

102 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

edges being raised. From this peculiar form of tongue it may be observed that no
hindrance is presented by that organ to the sucking up of water; the spines would
prevent the escape of the most slippery or minute prey, which could be crushed by
the closing of the beak and the pressure of the tongue against the upper mandible,
the water finding ready egress.”

The same gentleman, after haying remarked that this bird is of frequent occur-
rence near the streams or back waters of almost any of the rivers, which in their
course disclose sandy spots and wide areas of shingle, continues thus: “ A conside-
ration of the natural features of its favorite haunts permits us to indulge in surmises
as to the convenience and adaptation of its remarkable form of beak for obtaining its
food. Where we have seen this bird it has never been far from water; and if, as I
presume, the species is peculiar to this country (New Zealand), I can point to our
larger river-beds as affording it desirable feeding grounds. These rapid shallow
streams are perpetually wandering and shifting in their course, cutting new channels
after every freshet, whether occasioned by heavy rainfalls or by the melting of snow
from the alpine crests of the ‘back country.’ Any one acquainted with our ‘plains’
must have observed, here and there, how certain parts (termed by the geologists
‘fans’) are thickly covered with stones, as, for instance, some miles below the gorges
of the Rakaia and Rangitata. However unpromising or useless they may appear to
the inexperienced, the practical grazier is aware that these stones assist in keeping the
ground cool, and in retaining beneath them a certain amount of moisture, which dur-
ing the drier portion of the year (when the parching northwest winds prevail) thus
invigorates the thirsty rootlets of many valuable grasses, and the result is the main-
tenance of a fair number of sheep on this rather barren-looking stretch of country.
When any of these stones are disturbed from their bed, who can have failed to notice
the commotion produced amongst the insect community thus suddenly disclosed to
view? What scuttling ensues to gain fresh concealment from the garish light of day!
In a somewhat similar manner, after a stream has deserted its temporary bed, numer-
ous forms of aquatic insect life, attracted, in all probability, by the moisture, are to be
found in the sand in which the shingle lies half embedded. The horny point of the
bill of this bird, from its peculiar form, is sufficiently strong to be used for thrusting
between and under stones and pebbles. The flexibility of the upper mandible, derived
from the long grooves and flattened form (extending to nearly half its length), tends
materially to assist the bird in fitting its eurved bill close to a stone, and thus aids in
searching or fossicking around or beneath the shingle for its food, while at the same
time the closed mandibles would form a tube through which water and insects could
be drawn up, as water is sucked up by a syringe. As the flexure of the bill is lateral,
the bird is enabled to follow up retreating insects, by making the cireuit of a water-
worn stone, with far greater ease than if it had been furnished with the straight beak
of the plover, or the long flexible scoop of the avocet. The inspection of these spe-
cimens must clear away any little cloud of doubt that might remain on the minds of
persons unfamiliar with the bird, and convince them that this singular form of bill, so
far from being an accidental deformity, is a beautiful provision of nature, which con-
fers on a plover-like bird the advantage of being able to secure a share of its food
from sourees whence it would be otherwise unattainable.” Concomitant with the
laterally deflected beak, is a curious asymmetry in the coloration of the plumage, which
has been pointed out by Dr. Buller in the following interesting account :— “ As
already explained, the curvature in the bill is congenital, being equally present in the

JA CANAS. 103

embryo chick, although not so fully developed, and this fact furnishes a beautiful illus-
tration of the law of adaptation and design that prevails throughout the whole ani-
mal kingdom. <A bird endowed with a straight bill, or with an upeurved or decuryed
one, would be less fitted for the peculiar mode of hunting by which the Anarhynchus
obtains its living, as must be at once apparent to any one who has watched this bird
running rapidly round the boulders that lie on the surface of the ground, and insert-
ing its scoop sidewise at every step, in order to collect the insects and their larvee that
find concealment there. But there is another feature in the natural history of this
species that is deserving of special notice. As already described, the fully adult bird
is adorned with a black pectoral band, which, in the male, measures .75 of an inch
in its widest part. Now it is a very curious circumstance that this band is far more
conspicuous on the right-hand side, where, owing to the bird’s peculiar habit of feed-
ing, there is less necessity for concealment by means of protective coloring. This
character is constant in all the specimens that I have examined, although in a vari-
able degree; the black band being generally about one third narrower, and of a less
decided color on the left side of the breast, from which we may, I think, reasonably
infer that the law of natural selection has operated to lessen the coloring on the side
of the bird more exposed to hawks and other enemies whilst the Anarhynchus is
hunting for its daily food. There can be no doubt that a protective advantage of
this sort, however slight in itself, would have an appreciable effect on the survival of
the fittest, and that, allowing sufficient time for this modification of character to
develop itself, the species would at length, under certain conditions of existence, lose
the black band altogether on the left-hand side.”

It is now generally conceded that E. Blyth was right when asserting that the
Jacantp# are closely allied to the plovers, and that they consequently do not belong
to the Rallide, or rails, as has been nearly universally thought until recently. In their
general aspect, the long toes, and the nearly incumbent hind toe, the jaganas present
great analogy to the rails, but the internal anatomy, the knowledge of which is mainly
due to Garrod and Forbes, conclusively proves that they belong to the present super-
family. Forbes remarks that, perhaps, no very definite conclusion as to their affinities
could be drawn from a consideration of the pterylographic, visceral, and myological
features only, but that their osteological characters leave no doubt as to their real
position. All the skulls of Jacanidze examined by him are strongly schizorhinal,
therein differing completely from those of the rails, and resembling the plovers and
their allies. There are well-developed basipterygoid processes, which are always
absent in the rails, though occurring in all the Charadriide and Seolopacide which
he examined. The vomer is emarginate apically, while in the Rallidw it is sharp at
the point. From the Scolopacide and Charadriide the skull differs chiefly in lacking
occipital foramina and supra-orbital impressions. The sternum is quite unlike that of
the Rallidw. In the latter group the sternum is always peculiar, in that the xiphoid
processes exceed in length the body of the sternum, which tapers to a point postert-
orly, and from which they are separated by very long and well-marked triangular
notches. The keel is also less well-developed, and the clavicles are weaker and
straighter, being less convex forward, than in the Jacanidwe. The pelvis of the latter
is also essentially plover-like, the ilia being wider and more expanded anteriorly, the
postacetabular ridge having hardly any median projection, and the pelvis being widest
dorsally, just behind the antetrochanters ; in these and other points differing from the
rails. The toes are enormously elongated and so are the claws. Another external

104 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

character distinguishing the jaganas from the plovers and snipes is the number of
rectrices, said to be ten in the former, against twelve or more in the latter.

All the forms belonging to this very distinct family have a metacarpal ‘spur,’
which in the genera Jacana and Hydrophasianus is large and sharp, while in the
others it is small and blunt. Of this spur Professor Forbes remarks, that it has no
relation whatever to the claw or nail of the pollex, which is also present, though
small. The spur in Jacana spinosa at least “consists of an external, translucent,
yellow epidermic layer, which inyests a central core of compact fibrous tissue, this in
turn being supported by a bony projection developed at the radial side of the first
metacarpal.” his spur is a formidable weapon, but it seems that the forms in which
it is small and blunt have received a compensation for the absence of a real spur in
an extraordinary development of the radius. In birds, as a rule, this bone is slenderer
than the ulna, but in the members of the genus Metopidius, and probably also in
Hydralector cristatus, the radius is dilated and flattened into a sub-triangular lamellar-
like expansion for its distal half, as shown in the accompanying cut. The margin of
the bone, where it is superficial, is slightly roughened; and no doubt, as Forbes
remarks, the peculiar form of radius is asso-
ciated with the quarrelsome habits of these
birds, this dilated and somewhat scimetar-
shaped bone being probably capable of inflict-

~* ing a very severe downward blow.

Fic. A OE tee h, humerus; 1, The jaganas form a small family of tropi-

cal birds, one genus, Jacana (or Parra, as
it erroneously has been called by most ornithologists), of about four species, being
tropical American, with one representative, J. gymnostoma, a native of Central
America and Mexico, just entering the United States on the border of Texas; while
the one figured is the commonest South American species; another genus, Metopidius,
is Indo-African in its distribution, and ZZydralector is Malayan, while Z/ydrophasianus
chirurgus, hails from India and the countries to the east, including the Philippine
Islands and Formosa. The latter, which is the pheasant-tailed jagana of writers, is a
remarkably striking bird. It is devoid of the naked lobes on the head, so character-
istic of the true jaganas, but is especially noticeable for the four enormously elongated
tail-feathers, which are gracefully arched like those of a pheasant. The length of the
bird is about eighteen inches, the tail alone measuring ten inches. On the authority
of Blyth we introduce the following notice of their habits: “These birds breed during
the rains, in flooded spots, where the lotus is plentiful, the pair forming a rude, flat
nest of grass and weeds, interwoven beneath with the long shoots of some growing,
aquatic plant, which retain it buoyant on the surface. Herein are laid six or seven
olive-brown, pear-shaped eggs, of an inch and a quarter in length. Their slender
bodies and widely extending toes enable jaganas to run with facility, apparently
on the water, but in reality, wherever any floating leaves or green herbage meets their
light tread. The food consists of the green, tender paddy, or other vegetable growth,
dependent on inundation for its production, and the numerous species of insects that
abound in such spots. The cry is like that of a kitten in distress, wherice their native
name of meewah. In flight, the legs are trailed behind like those of the herons. The
flesh is excellent.” Blyth adds that he has sometimes seen it to all appearance walk-
ing on the water, the supports on which its long toes really rested being slight and
little visible. Legge says that in Ceylon it is wonderfully numerous on the northern

SNIPES. a | ( 5)

tanks in the “ Wanny” district, their musical notes resounding all day and all night
long through the picturesque forests on their borders. These sounds are essentially
typical of the wild regions in the northern forests of this island, and must always
associate themselves in the mind of the naturalist with his wanderings in Ceylon.

The snipes, sandpipers, curlews, ete., form another and still larger family than the
plovers, being known as the Scoropaciy®, a group of considerable homogeneity, and
chiefly characterized by the long, thin, and flexible bill, which is coyered by a soft
skin, at the end richly provided with nerves that make the bill a very sensitive probe

Fig. 49. — Jacana spinosa, jagana,

fit to detect in the soft mud and extricate the worms and animaleules upon which

they feed. Otherwise they agree pretty much with the Charadriidx, having a sim

pterylosis, and similar muscular and intestinal arrangements. Like those they also

possess occipital foramina, basipterygoid processes and supra-orbital impressions

Distributed all over the world, from the icy regions of the north pole to the equa-
tor, the snipe tribe populates the sea-shores, the river-banks, the swamps | marshes
while a few only —as, for instance, the woodcock— prefer the drier woodlands t

moister localities near the water.

106 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

We mentioned above that the present family resembles the Charadriide as to the
muscular arrangement, but we should have qualified the statement in regard to the
muscles of the legs by saying that the myological formula is reversed in the two fami-
lies, that is to say, that while in the plovers ABXY is the rule, and AXY the excep-
tion, so is among the snipes the latter combination the usual one, while only few have
all four muscles. Noticeable among the snipes having this more generalized muscular
arrangement are the curlews, a small group, the external characters of which are
alone sufficient to warrant us in assigning them a somewhat separate position; for the
Numeniine are characterized by a very long and strongly decurved bill, and by
having the tarsus entirely reticulate, or seutellate only for the lower half of the front.

Fi. 50.— Numenius arquatus, curlew.

As an additional character may be quoted their comparatively short tongue. The
tarsus is totally reticulate in the Asiatic genus, Zbidorhyncha, in which, besides, the
hind toe is absent, thus to a certain degree justifying the saying that it is a snipe with
the bill of an ibis and the feet of a plover. Of this very remarkable form only
one species, the red-billed curlew (Z. struthersii), is known. It was originally obtained
in the Himmalehs, but recent explorations in central Asia have shown that it inhabits
sandy river banks from Pekin in the east to Turkestan, or perhaps the Kirghis steppes
in the west. Its coloration is entirely different from that of the curlews of the genus
Numenius, which are of a more or less rusty gray with dusky spots all over, while in
Thidorhyncha the back is olive colored, the under side pure white, with the top of

SANDPIPERS. 107

head, face, and throat black, as is also a band across the breast; bill and feet vivid
red. The arctogwan genus (Vumenius), consists of four-toed curlews, the migratory
habits, extreme shyness, and culinary excellency of which are well known to the
sportsman. They range in size from that of the domestic fowl to that of the wood-
cock. Five species are enumerated as belonging to North America, among these the
curious JV. tahitensis, in which the shafts of the thigh-feathers are prolonged into thin
and long, glossy bristles. It inhabits especially the Pacific islands, and has been taken
twice in Alaska as an accidental straggler.

In the following sub-family, the Recurvirostrin, the length of bill and feet, espe-
cially that of the latter, is carried to an extreme, but, unlike the curlews, the bill is
either straight or bent upwards, and in both cases very much pointed. Those with
straight bills are called stilts; those with the beak recurved, avocets. The tarsus is
covered in front by reticulate scales. They are tropical or subtropical in their distri-
bution. The species are not numerous and are referable to three genera, the distin-
guishing characters of which Mr. Seebohm has tabulated in the following ingenuous
and laconic way :

Recurvirostra
Feet webbed . . . . igesernmci

Himantopus, - Hind toe absent.

He might as well have said “ Bill not recurved” instead of “ Hind toe absent,” how-
ever.

This table confronts us with one of the peculiarities of some of the forms, their
fully palmate feet being unique among limicoline birds. Cladorhynchus is contined
to Australia, the two other genera occur both in the Old and the New World, and in
the latter both in North and in South America.

A still smaller sub-family comprises the three species of Phalaropes, small, rather
short-billed, and short-legged birds, with the tip of the bill pointed and the toes fur-
nished with a lateral membrane, which is more or less lobate. The Phalaropodinwe
are more oceanic during their migrations than most birds of this sub-family, and swim
with grace and ease. They are arctic and cireumpolar in their distribution, wander-
ing far southward in winter.

The central group of the Scolopacide is formed by an assemblage of birds, of
mostly plain grayish or brownish plumage, spotted with dusky, and more or less white
underneath, among which are the sanderlings, the godwits, tattlers, sandpipers, the
knot, the dotterel, and many other familiar birds. We call this assemblage Tringinw,
assigning to them as characters the absence of those features which have been
pointed out as peculiar to the foregoing groups, adding that they differ from the fol-
lowing sub-family —the true snipes—in having the eyes placed normally. On the
whole, the structure of the members is very normal, excessive developments and spe-
cializations in any direction being unusual. In this respect the curious spoon-billed
sandpiper (Zurynorhynchus pygmeus) is a noteworthy exception. The end of its bill
is greatly depressed and flattened out, so as to form a broad spade much more dispro-
portionate than the similar formation of the spoon-bill or the shoveller. This bird,
which is about the size of the dunlin, and normally sandpiper-colored, is very limited
in its distribution and correspondingly rare in collections. It seems to breed some-
where in the neighborhood of Bering Strait, whence most of the specimens have been
obtained, traveling south in fall, and wintering on the shores of the Indian Ocean.
The habits of the sandpipers are, on the whole, not greatly diversified, although, of

108 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

course, each species has peculiarities of its own. They need, however, not detain us
here, with the exception of one feature which does not seem to be generally known,
viz., that some of the species during the breeding season are capable of producing a
real song, which is considerably superior to that of many a “song-bird” proper. Says
Mr. Seebohm, for instance, of Actodromas temminchii: “I first made the acquaint-
ance of Temminck’s stint at Tromsee, on the west coast of Finmark, where it was very
common. These charming little birds were in full song in the middle of June. It
was 4 most interesting sight to watch them flying up into the air, wheeling round and
round, singing almost as vigorously and nearly as melodiously as a sky-lark. Some-
times they were to be seen perched on a rail or a post, or even on the slender branch
of a willow, vibrating their little wings like a wood-wren, and trilling with all their
might; and often the song was ‘uttered on the ground as they ran along the short
grass with wings elevated over the back. The song of this bird is not unlike that of
the grasshopper warbler, but is louder and shriller.”. Of Yotanus glareola, the wood-
sandpiper of the Old World, the same author says: “The note which the male utters

during the pairing season is much more of a song than that of the grasshopper war-
bler, which it somewhat resembles; it is a monotomous @-iLi/, begun somewhat low
and slow, as the bird is descending in the air with fluttering upraised wings, becom-
ing louder and more rapid, and reaching its climax as the bird alights on the ground
or on a rail, or sometimes on the bare branch of a willow, the points of its trembling
wings almost meeting over its head when its feet find support. This song is a by no
means unmusical trill, and has an almost metallic ring about it.”

Concerning another species, the pectoral sandpiper (Actodromus maculatus), My.
BE. W. Nelson made some very interesting notes during his explorations in Alaska, to
the effect that the male, during the breeding season, can fill its esophagus with air to
such an extent that the breast and throat are inflated to twice or more the natural
size, the great air-sac thus formed giving a peculiar resonant quality to the note which
he describes as deep and hollow, but at the same time liquid and musical. The skin
of the throat and breast becomes very flabby and loose, so as to hang down “in a pen-
dulous flap or fold, exactly like a dewlap, about an inch and a half wide,” even when
not inflated. “The male may frequently be seen running along the ground close to
the female, its enormous sac inflated, and its head drawn back, and the bill pointing
directly forwards ; or, filled with spring-time vigor, the bird flits with slow but ener-
getic wing-strokes close along the ground, its head raised high over the shoulders, and
the tail hanging almost directly down. As it thus flies, it utters a sugcession of the
booming notes adverted to above, which have a strange ventriloquial quality. At times
the male rises twenty or thirty yards in the air, and, inflating its throat, glides down
to the ground with its sac hanging below; again he crosses back and forth in front of
the fentale, puffing out his breast, and bowing from side to side, running here and there
as if intoxicated with passion. Whenever he pursues his love-making, his rather low
but far-reaching note swells and dies in musical cadence, and forms a striking part of
the great bird chorus at that season in the north.”

When speaking above of the uniformity in structure and habits of the birds com-
posing this sub-family, a mental reservation was made in regard to the ruff (Pavon-
cella pugnat). The male, during the breeding season, has the face covered with naked
yellowish tubercles, and an enormous ruff of erectile feathers appears simultaneously
on the neck. The colors of this ruff especially, as well as of the body, are so diver-
sified that hardly two individuals can be found precisely alike, though it is said that

RUFF. 109

these infinite variations may be reduced to thirty-three typical ones, the remainder
being to all appearance intermediate forms or crosses. The accompanying cut gives
only an inadequate idea of its peculiar aspect at this season, but will serve as an illus-
tration for the following account, the excellency of which may be an excuse for again
introducing Mr. Seebohm: “There are two points of special interest attaching to
the history of the ruff, which are probably intimately connected with each other.
One of them is the extraordinary variety of the plumage of the males in the breeding
season, and the other is the fact that the ruff is polygamous. It is said that the
females largely outnumber the males. Naumann estimates the proportion as three to
one, and this discrepancy is confirmed by African collectors. The males contend in

nF
ving

ym

Fig. 51. — Pavoncella pugnax, rulf.

single combat for the right of being ‘cock of the walk,’ and for this purpose battle-
fields are chosen, like the ‘laking-places’ of the capercaillie and the blackcock.
These are sometimes on a slight elevation, but usually are nothing more than a spot
of open ground in the marsh, where a patch of level short grass is to be found, four
or five feet across, and so situated that it may be exposed to the view of the admiring
females. The same piece of ground is chosen year after year, and Naumann mentions
an instance of one which had been thus used for half a century. Frequently two or
three duels are going on at once on the ground, but they seldom last long. After
what looks like furious sparring, the weaker cock retires from the hill,” seldom any
worse for the fray, and the conqueror awaits another foe. These cock-fights are not
commenced until the ruff or collar is fully grown, which is seldom before the middle

110 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

of May, and are discontinued as soon as the feathers on the neck begin to fall out,
which happens about six weeks later. Soon after sunrise is the best time to observe
them, but I have watched them in Russia and in Holland as late as eleven in the fore-
noon. The excitement of the birds is intense; they stoop with their heads low, and
their ruffs expanded, and fly at each other like game-cocks, but, unlike those birds,
they fight with the bill and not with the foot. The warts on the side of the face of
the ruff only remain during the spring, and, doubtless, serve as a protection against
the sword-thrusts of their adversaries.”

The Scolopacine are birds of the twilight, and, like all birds of similar habits, are
structurally adapted to their peculiar manners of life. Thus, the plumage is soft, and
the coloration has that curiously mottled character which we will find in the owls and
goat-suckers. The eyes are large and full, but in order to give them place in fhe little
snipe-head without diminishing the ears, which also are of great importance to noe-
turnal birds, the eyes have been pushed so far behind in the skull as to be situated
just above the ear-openings. The bill is very long, flexible, and covered with a soft
skin, richly supplied with nerves. The tarsus, like that of the Tringinz, is scutellate
both in front and behind. The snipes proper, including the so-called woodcocks, are
cosmopolitan in their distribution, and of migratory habits in cold climates, the many
different species being of a bewildering similarity. A curious feature of these birds
is, that a number of species present strangely modified tail-feathers, the number of
which is often enormously increased over the normal, for instance, Gallinago stenura,
from eastern Asia. This abnormality of the tail-feathers in many forms has been taken
as an argument in favor of the theory that the bleating sound of the common snipe
(Gallinago gallinago), is produced by aid of the rectrices. Others have contended
that the wing-feathers are the instrument by which it imitates so closely the goat,
and bitter discussions have been carried on between eminent ornithologists for more
than twenty years. Together with several distinguished observers, Thold that the
sound usually emanates from the throat, but that its bleating quality is produced by
the vibration of the wings when the bird descends from its height. We quote the
following from our own experience : —

“Very often the snipe would rise so high in the air as to become almost invisible to
the unaided eye, but still the strange sound rang vigorously down to the observer.
Not only this power of the sound, but even more so the nature of the tune itself, con-
vinced me that it originates from the throat, and not in any way either from the tail
or the wing feathers, as suggested by many European writers. It is true that the
wings are in astate of very rapid vibration during the oblique descent when the note is
uttered, but this circumstance does not testify only in favor of the theory of the sound
being produced by the wing, as the vibration most conclusively accounts for the quiv-
ering throat-sound. Anybody stretching his arms out as if flying, and moving them
rapidly up and down, and simultaneously uttering any sound, is bound to ‘bleat.’”

This group includes a small, strongly-defined genus which we designate by its oldest
name as Jostratula, more commonly known as Rhynchewa. The geographical distri-
bution is somewhat remarkable, a representative species being found in each of the
following provinces: Africa and Madagascar, India and south-eastern Asia, Australia
and southern South America, It will be observed that this peculiar distribution is
similar to that of many isolated forms; for instance, the Jacanide, Heliornithide,
Trogonide, Dendrocygna, Plotus, ete., affording a valuable hint as to the origin and
past distribution of these more or less ‘aberrant’ forms. Rostratula has other peculi-

PAINTED-SNIPE. 111

arities, however, not the least interesting being the fact that the secondary sexual char-
acters are completely reversed, the female being considerably larger and more brilliantly
colored than the male. In addition to this the females “deputize the duty of incuba-
tion to the other sex, and reserve the business of courting to themselves.” Still more
remarkable is that, in the female of J?. bengalensis, the windpipe is more or less tortu-
ous, forming a distinct loop lying between the integument and the inter-clayicular
membrane on the left side,” while in the male it is straight and simple; for, as Darwin
says, whenever “the trachea differs in structure in the two sexes it is more developed
and complex in the male than in the female.” The arrangement is even more extra-
ordinary in the female of the Australian species (2?. australis), in which, according to

FiG. 52. — Rostratula capensis, painted-snipe.

Gould, the trachea passes down between the skin and the muscles of the breast for the
whole length of the body, making four distinct convolutions before entering the lungs.
The painted-snipe, as the species is called, is well represented in the accompanying
cut. The predominating color is olivaceous, with buff and black markings, underneath
olivaceous, brown, and white. Blyth states that the Asiatic species, when surprised,
has the habit of spreading out its wings and tail, and so forming a sort of radiated
disk which shows off its spotted markings, menacing the while with a hissing sound
and contracted neck, and then suddenly darting off.

While all the foregoing families of the Charadroid types are schizorhinal, the two
following ones are distinguished as being holorhinal. On account of this arrangement
of the nostrils they have by some systematists been removed from this superfamily

112 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

and placed near the rails, but the total sum of characters seems to demand that the
bustards and thick-knees be left with the Limicolw, as a kind of connecting link
between these and the rails and cranes.

The Giprcnemip2 —in English called thick-knees, stone-curlews, or, better, stone-
plovers—haye the general aspect of large plovers, with a rather long bill, the gonydeal
angle of which is strongly pronounced. The wings are pointed, the tarsi are reticu-
lated, and the hind toe absent. The number of forms composing this family is small.
Their distribution is inter-tropical on both hemispheres, and no species belongs to the
fauna of North America, while a single species, Qidicnemus edicnemus, extends its
range into southern and central Europe, including England. Like its congeners it

FIG. 53. — @dicnemus edicnemus, stone-plover, thick-knee.

frequents the lowland heaths and bare lands where it has an unobstructed view all
round. Its habits are toa great extent nocturnal, and it is particularly at nightfall
and on moonlight nights that its clamorous voice is heard when out in search for food,
which consists of insects, snails, ete.

Mr. C. C, Nutting, who collected in Nicaragua, gives the following account of the
Central American species, @. bistiratus: “This curious bird is gregarious, and lives
in the pastures surrounding the hacienda, where it makes itself useful by eating the
various insects that annoy and injure the cattle. On this account it is protected by
the inhabitants of the country, and it was only as a particular favor that I could per-
suade ‘Don Alejandro’ to allow me to shoot a couple of specimens. The bird is
exactly like a gigantic plover in appearance and motions, and is frequently seen in a

GRALLA. 113

state of domestication in the little flower-gardens which occupy the inner courts of the
houses of the aristocracy, and here it works for its living by keeping the garden clear
of insects, worms, reptiles, ete.”

The Indian and Australian genus, /’sacus, is characterized by its much larger bill.
Its coloring is gray above, whitish beneath, with no spots. In size it is considerably
larger than the stone-plovers, and equal to that of the smaller bustards.

The Ortpm&, or bustards, compose the second holorhinal family, forming a well-
cireumscribed group, externally characterized by the short, somewhat vaulted bill
without prominent chin angle, the long and stout legs finely reticulated anteriorly
and behind. The toes are very short and stout, their number only three, and Forbes
failed in discovering even « trace of the hind toe underneath the skin. In their gen-
eral aspect these birds closely resemble the gallinaceous type, which in their habits
they also recall to a certain extent. ‘Some of the species are very large, the size
ranging from that of a turkey to that of a willow-ptarmigan, being generally very
stoutly built. Notwithstanding this apparent clumsiness the bustards fly well, and
run with amazing swiftness, which once caused them to be included with the Ostriches
in an “order” called Cursores. They are, consequently, especially adapted to the
open country, and are, in fact, “the birds of the steppes par excellence.” Their food
is chiefly vegetable, thus differing widely from most of the members of the present
order. It is strange that, notwithstanding the fact of some of the species occuring
and breeding in central Europe, the question whether these birds are polygamous, as
has been asserted, or not, cannot be said to be finally settled yet, though the nega-
tive evidence seems to be the stronger. The family belongs exclusively to the Old
World, no form being found in America. The centre of distribution of its about
thirty-five species may be said to be Africa, but many species occur in central and
southern Asia, and two are regular inhabitants of the temperate lowlands of Europe.
Also Australia has its representation, but it is a significant fact that bustards are
absent in Madagascar and the Malay Islands. Of structural peculigrities in this group
may be mentioned that several species have a gular pouch with an opening under-
neath the tongue. This pouch is capable of being inflated. It is especially well
developed in the great bustard of Europe (Otis tarda), and much speculation as to
its use has been indulged in. Some thought it a water-reservoir, while others, from
the fact that sometimes a few seeds or some trifling quantity of grass have been found
in it, believed that it was used as a receptacle for food. There is no doubt any longer,
however, that the presence of this sac during the breeding season is simply a secondary
sexual character, and that it is only a temporary air-chamber, to be inflated and dis-
tended during the “showing off.” Not less interesting is the fact that the pouch is
absent in many species, and that a simple distension of the wsophagus in some results
in the neck swelling and depending in a similar manner. Another anatomical peculi-
arity is that members of the genus Zwpodotis have only one carotid artery, —the
right one, — while in other birds with only one carotid it is the left that is present.

Many of the species are adorned with strutting bristles, ruffs, or feather-tufts. One
of the smallest species is the one figured, the little bustard (0. tetras), of common
occurrence in southern Europe, and not larger than a grouse. Another species which
also occurs in Europe, though only as an accidental straggler, is the western Asiatic
houbara (Houbara macqueenii). Wow this bird, which is intermediate in size
between the great and the little bustards, is chased by the aid of the camel, may be
of interest to the sportsman, and the following is therefore borrowed from Hume’s

VoL. Iv. —8

114 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

“Game Birds of India.” “It is weary work trudging on foot, under an Indian sun,
after birds that run as these can and will, and in the districts where they are plentiful,
people always either hawk them or shoot them from camels. Taking the camel at
a long, easy, six miles an hour trot across one of those vast wildernesses they affect,
you will not be long before —raised high up as you are on camel-back — you catch sight
of one or more houbara feeding amongst the bushes. To them camels have no evil
import; everybody uses them; none but the veriest pauper walks, every one rides,

Fic. 54. — Otis tetraz, little bustard.

and rides camels, When, therefore, the houbara see you coming along on a camel,
they only move a little aside, so as to be out of your line of march, and you at once
begin to describe a large spiral round them, so that, while appearing always to be
passing away from them, you are really always closing in on them. Sometimes, if the
time be early or late, or if the day be cold or cloudy, long before you are within shot,
they start off running, and, if you press them further, ultimately take wing, flying
heavily, and soon re-alighting and running on, never, 80 far as I have seen, taking the

SUN-BITTERNS. 115

long flights that the great bustard does, and never fluttering and skylarking in the air
as do the little ones. Generally, however, if the time be between ten and four,
and the day bright and warm, as your spiral diminishes, the birds disappear suddenly.
They have squatted. Still you go on round and round, closing in, in each lap, and
straining your eyes, usually in vain, to discover their whereabouts; suddenly, perhaps
from under the very feet of the camel, up flutters one of the birds, and, after a few
strides, rises, to fall dead a few yards further on, as they are easy to hit and easy to
kill. At the first shot all the houbara that are at all close usually rise; but after
shooting a brace right and left, and having them picked up and slung, I have known a
third to blunder up from within a few yards. The way they will squat at times on an
absolutely bare patch of sand is astonishing; their plumage harmonizes perfectly with
the soil, and you will have a bird rise suddenly, apparently out of the earth, within
five yards of you, from a spot where there is not a blade of cover, and on which your
eyes have perhaps been fixed for some seconds. This is especially the case about
mid-day, when the sun is nearly vertical, and no shadow is thrown by the squatting
bird. Sometimes they try another plan: they get behind a single bush, and as you
circle round they do the same, always keeping the bush between themselves and
the sportsman. Here, unless the sun be quite vertical, their shadow projected on the
ground, apart from that of the bush, is sure, at certain positions in the circle, to betray
them, and a shot through the bush brings them to bag.”

Like most of the erratic and isolated types of birds, the members constituting the
super-family EURYPYGOIDEE have been hunted round the ornithological system
from order to order, until, of late, anatomical researches have proved their mutual
relationship and their remoteness from the forms with which they were more or less
commonly associated. As long as external characters alone were relied upon, the sun-
bitterns were considered rails by some, herons by others; while the curious Mesites
was in turn one of the Passeres and a Gallinaceous bird. When the anatomists finally
decided their relationship and united with them the kagu, placing them all near the
Scolopacoid birds, more nearly related inter se than to any other group, the verdict
had to be, and to a great extent has been, accepted by ornithologists at large.

In the first place these birds are schizorhinal, and furthermore they lack occipital
foramina, basipterygoid processes, and supraorbital impressions. To these important
characters of the skull, besides important ones from other parts of the body,—for
instance, the comparatively low insertion of the hind toe, —may be added the presence
of powder-down patches among the feathers, a feature elsewhere only met with in the
herons, some parrots, goatsuckers, hawks, and a few others.

Three families compose the super-family, each of which are represented by a single
genus only, the genera again being nearly monotypical. The sun-bitterns are South
American, thynochetos is from the island of New Caledonia in the Polynesian Archi-
pelago, and Jesites is peculiar to Madagascar. This distribution is considerably
disconnected, and seems at first glance to oppose the view of the relationship of these
birds, but we need only refer to what has been said on a previous page, under
Rostratula, in order to show that the peculiar geographical distribution of these forms,
the antiquity of which cannot be doubted, is rather in favor of the present arrange-
ment, and they can only be regarded as the last survivors of a group which, simulta-
neously with others of similarly old-fashioned aspect, once populated continents now
sunk, or inhabited by forms of a more modern type. Just how the ancestors of the
recent Limicole, on one hand, and the cranes and rails, on the other, branched off

116 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

from that common stock of which we here see the more or less direct descendants,
will not be ascertained before the embryology of all these forms shall be known, and
perhaps not even then. Nor may we expect much from future paleontological
discoveries; here and there a find may throw some light upon affinities and the history
of development, but the gaps are great and many. We will therefore, for the present
at least, have to content ourselves with such reasonable probabilities as can be derived
from the comparative anatomy and the geographical distribution.

The sun-bitterns, family Eurypyems, genus Hurypyga, as already indicated, are
South American birds of a rather peculiar appearance, something between a rail and

Fig. 55.— Eurypyga helias, sun-bird, sun-bittern.

a heron, though the long tail, the ample, broad wings, and the peculiar coloration at
first glance distinguishes them from both. Referring to the cut for further details
of external structure and for the general aspect, we need only mention in regard to col-
oration that the sun-bird, as it is also called, is beautifully variegated with white, brown,
and black bands and mottlings, the head being black with white marks. The eye is
red, bill and feet yellow. The feathers are soft, and the shafts of those on the back
and rump are extremely fine and delicate in the centre, which causes the tips of each
feather to turn the reverse way directly the bird is dead. Another remarkable fea-
ture is the extremely thin neck. The sun-bitterns inhabit the banks of the great

KAGU. 117

rivers and are said to be very shy. Nevertheless, they are easily tamed, and travelers
assert that they are often kept in captivity by the natives inhabiting the valleys of the
Amazon and Orinoco. They are therefore often found in the zoological gardens,
where they thrive very well. They bred first in the London Zoological Garden, and
from the account by the superintendent, Mr. A. D. Bartlett, we select the following
concerning this event: “Early in the month of May, 1865, they began to show signs
of breeding, by carrying bits of sticks, roots of grass, and other materials about; they
were constantly walking round the pond, evidently in search of materials to compose
a nest, and appeared to try and mix wet dirt with bits of moss, etc. This suggested
the idea of supplying them with wet clay and mud, which they at once commenced to
use. After a short time they settled to make a nest on the top of a pole or tree about
ten feet from the ground, on which was fixed an old straw nest. One egg was laid,
but broken, but early in June another was found, resembling that of a woodeock rather
than any other bird. The two birds were very attentive, and took turns at incubation,
and in twenty-seven days the young bird was hatched. It is certainly one of the
prettiest young birds I ever saw. It is thickly covered with fine short tufts of down,
and much resembles the young of the plovers and the snipes, with the addition that
the head and body was thickly covered with rather longer hairs than are to be seen in
the former-mentioned birds. The young bird remained in the nest and was fed regu-
larly by both parents, the food consisting principally of small live fish, a few insects,
ete. The mode of taking its food was somewhat peculiar: it did not gape and call or
utter any cry like most nestlings; bnt as soon as the old birds flew upon the nest with
the food in their bills, the young one snapped or pecked it from them and swallowed
it at once. The young bird remained in the nest twenty-one days, by which time its
wings were sufficiently grown to enable it to fly to the ground. It was then fed as
before, and never afterward returned to the nest; it grew quickly, and at the end of
two months was indistinguishable from the old birds. Early in August the old birds
began to repair the nest, and added a fresh lining of mud and clay, and at the end of
August laid another egg. In remarking upon these interesting facts, I may observe
that the egg differs considerably from the eggs of any true Ardeine bird with which
I am acquainted, in its spotted and blotched markings, and in this character bears a
strong resemblance to those of the plovers and snipes; nor are these the only resem-
blances, its downy covering, color, and markings leading one to regard it as allied to
these forms.”

Kagu is the native name of a remarkable bird, which is only known from the
island of New Caledonia, forming a separate genus, F/hynochetos, the type of an en-
tire ‘family, Ruynocuetip#. Bartlett had already, from external characters, insisted
upon the relationship of this form with the sun-bittern, when Professor Parker, from
an osteological point of view, asserted that 2. jubatus and the sun-bittern are very
closely allied, and that these are allied again to the cranes, rails, herons, and plovers,
though more generalized than any of these, regarding them, in fact, with Psophia, of
which more later on under the cranes, as indicating the way by which these different
types have developed. We shall not go into details here concerning the anatomical
features of the kagu, referring as we do to the accompanying cut representing the
skeleton, but we wish to call attention to the weakness of the sternal girdle, the breast-
bone corresponding nearly to the embryonic stage of that bone in the crane, and to
the great height and steepness of the iliac crests of the pelvis, and the peculiar bend
downwards at the hinder part of the sacrum. A noteworthy difference between the

118 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

intestinal arrangement of the kagu and that of the sun-bitterns is that in the latter the
ceca are nearly rudimentary, while well developed in the former. As to external
characters it will suffice to mention the long pending nape crest, and the peculiar
scroll-like membrane overhanging the openings of the nostrils, the use of which, ac-
cording to Dr. Murie, seems to be to close the openings when the bird, as is its habit,
digs into the soft soil for its food, thus preventing foreign matters from entering the
nostrils. The manner of clos-
ing these lids he describes as
follows: “ As the nostril ap-
proaches the ground and is
touched, its anterior part,
having a plough-share for-
mation or scroll-like contour,
sends the earth upwards over
it. The springy, semi-elastic
lid, from in front to behind,
is pressed down and inwards,
finally completely closing the
aperture as the beak is thrust
deep into the earth in search
of its living prey.” I may
add that the nostrils of Aw
rypyga are simple, without
any closing membrane.

During their stay on New
Caledonia, Messrs. Layards,
father and son, made inter-
esting studies into the his-
tory of this singular bird, the
color of which is gray, lighter
beneath, and with cross marks
of brown, black, and gray on
the wing- and _tail-feathers,
recalling a similar style of col-
oration in Hurypyga, while the iris is orange, and feet and bill orange-scarlet. From
their account we make the following extract : —

“In former times it seems to have been generally distributed all over the island,
but it has now nearly disappeared from the neighborhood of the more settled and
inhabited parts. It is usually caught by the natives with dogs, among rocks and
stones in precipitous ravines in the mountains. In habit it is strictly nocturnal, lying
concealed and asleep during the day in its rocky retreats; but as soon as night comes,
and especially in wet weather or during heavy dews, the ‘kagou,’ as it is called by the
natives, sallies forth in search of worms, slugs, snails, and such like, on which it feeds.
It runs with great rapidity, but has the habit of remaining during the day in one
position for a considerable length of time, like the herons. Swainson would have
undoubtedly made this bird a link between them and the rails.

“ All our endeayors to procure the eggs of this bird or reliable information on its
nidification have proved futile or contradictory. The majority of the natives have

Fic. 56.—Skeleton of Rhynochetos jubatus.

SERIEMA. 119

neyer even seen an egg, which some say is blue, others brown and speckled; and none
can answer the question as to whether the young birds are, or are not, able to run
from the moment of their being excluded. We have kept these birds for some time
in confinement, feeding them on the large Bulimi (which can be purchased in the
market, whither they are brought as an article of diet for our French colons), raw
meat, etc. They are noisy at night, uttering a guttural rattling note, and their antics
of an evening have sometimes reminded us of the African Scopus umbretta.”

The kagu has been kept in captivity. The superintendent of the London Zoologi-
cal Garden thus describes some of its peculiarities: “ With its crest erect and wings
spread out, the kagu runs or skips about, sometimes pursuing and driving before him
all the birds that are confined with him in the same aviary, and evidently enjoying the
fun of seeing them frightened. At other times he will seize the end of his wing or
tail, and run round, holding it in his bill. From a piece of paper or dry leaf he de-
rives much amusement, by tossing it about and running after it. During his frolic he
will thrust his bill into the ground and spread out his wings, kick his legs into the air,
and then tumble about as if in a fit.”

From Madagascar, the wonder-land where once the Epiornis roamed about, hails
the third member of this puzzling group, not the least puzzle of the three types com-
posing it. In addition to its strange structure, the rarity of the alleged two species
in the museums, the types being unique for many years, made it the more difficult for
ornithologists to find out the truth about it. J/esites, the only constituent of the
family Mesirip&, was therefore by some referred to the Gallinaceous birds, by others
to the pigeons, and still in 1872 Sundevall insisted upon the bird being oscinine, only
with the larger wing-coverts abnormal, and the tibie naked at the lower end, “like
the waders.” The anatomical investigations of A. Milne-Edwards finally enabled the
systematists to settle the question as to its relationships. He himself referred it to
the rails, but Garrod and Forbes have pointed out the schizorhinal character of JVesites
as compared with the holorhinal rails, and the position with Hurypyga and Rhynoche-
tos was confirmed when Mr. E. Bartlett, son of the gentleman mentioned above, dis-
covered that it has powder-down patches. He first found two very distinct patches on
the back of the neck. This naturally led him to search for others, which he also
found, viz., one on each side of the lower part of the rump, close to the tail, one on
each side of the upper part of the pectoral muscles, a third pair, one on each side,
running across the ribs, on to the pectoral muscle, and a fourth pair, one on each side
of the abdominal region, running parallel with the vent, making in all five pairs. He
also found that the feathers of the back and wings show the same peculiarity as those
of Hurypyga described above. To complete the characterization of JMesites, we may
add that the bill is long and slender, like that of the sun-bittern, the nostrils are long
and linear, overhung by an elongated cutaneous operculum. The tibim are naked
below, and the tarsus scutellated in front and behind, like the cofresponding parts in
the other two families. A noteworthy character is also the blue naked space round
the eye. The general coloration is cinnamon brown, head and under side more or
less marked with black in IL variegata. The whole external aspect is admitted by
Bartlett to be “ very thrush-like.”

The super-family CARIAMOIDE we shall introduce with a remark of Profes-
sor Newton, to the effect that he “is inclined to think that those who have urged its
affinity to the Accipitres, and among them taxonomers starting from bases so oppo-
site as Sundeyall and Professor Parker have more nearly hit the mark, and accord-

120 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

ingly would now relegate it to that order. It is doubtless an extremely generalized
form, the survival of a very ancient type, whence several groups may have sprung;
and whenever the secret it has to tell shall be revealed, a considerable step in the phy-
logeny of birds can scarcely fail to follow.” Nevertheless, the seriema is also evi-
dently allied to the cranes, and until the question concerning its relationship to the
African secretary-bird be finally settled, we may provisionally keep it where it has
been placed by most authors; though we confess the belief that it has passed the
dividing line, and should properly be placed with its African cousin among the ‘birds
Ste

- et a AV
? SV ey a age a A S\N

Fi. 57. — Cariama cristata, seriema.

of prey,’ both forming distinct families of a super-family named as above. The vis-
ceral anatomy is shown by Martin and Gadow to be essentially crane-like, correspond-
ing closely with the arrangement found in Psophia, the gizzard having one radiating
tendinous patch on each side, and the intestines give off two long cxca, characters
not shared by the Raptorial birds. The pterylosis, according to Nitzsch, has much
that is peculiar about it, but it most closely approaches that of Psophia and Grus.
The oil gland is entirely naked, even on the mamilla. But the osteology, on the other
hand, tends toward the Raptores. Not only the sternal apparatus shows an approach
in that direction, but especially the palate, which even Huxley himself admits is not

CRANES. 121
schizorhinal, although not quite typically desmognathous either. He says that in Cari-
ama. the internasal septum is ossified to a very slight extent, and the maxillo-palatine
processes may meet in the middle line, in both of which respects it approaches the
birds of prey; but the ossified part of the nasal septum does not unite below with
the maxillo-palatines, in this respect being unlike the Raptorial birds.

Two genera, each consisting of one species, are known, viz., Chunga burmeisteri,
from the Argentine Republic, and Cariama cristata, the species figured, from Brazil.
An interesting difference between the two closely allied genera is the variation
in the myological formula of the legs, the latter being expressed by BXY, while B
is absent in Chunga. We may add that BXY is the normal formula of the
cranes and bustards. Both have a curious crest of frontal plumes, that of the
figured species being the longest. The coloration of this species is of a sandy brown
above, sandy buff beneath, finely vermiculated with fulyous and blackish, and with
a white terminal band on the tail. The orbits are bare and blue, eye yellow, bill
cinnabar-red.

The seriema is a large bird, about the size of the great blue heron, and of a very
striking appearance, not the least so on account of the curious frontal crest. In some
of the Brazilian campos it is common, and its penetrating, though not unpleasant
voice, may be heard close to the inhabited places several hours eyen before sunrise.
It is protected by the law, and a fine is imposed upon anybody killing the bird, which
is thought to destroy a good many snakes. Prof. Reinhardt, however, denies this,
and says that he only found insects and seeds in the stomach. The chunga, as the
other species is called by the Spanish inhabitants of the Argentine Republic, is
smaller and more ash-colored, with black bill, and the lores are densely feathered.
Dr. Hartlaub, when describing it, gave the following accounts of its habits, from the
notes furnished by its discoverer, Prof. Burmeister, after whom it was named : —

“Tt is found in the wooded districts of the province of Tucuman and Catamarca;
it nests on the ground. Its eggs are white, slightly spotted with rufous. It feeds
upon insects, and more especially upon locusts. The young have a rufous dress,
thickly undulated with black; they very soon begin to take care of themselves.
The chunga is easily domesticated, and seems, even after a few days of captivity, at-
tached to its master. In its wild state it is very difficult to kill, therefore it is pref-
erable to search for the nest, and bring up the young birds by hand. The ery of the
bird is heard very frequently in the district where it is found, and sounds like the
bark of a young dog, but not quite so loud.”

The apparent broad gap between the cranes and rails, which had led many to re-
gard them as separate ‘sub-orders,’ broke down when it was shown that Aramus, the
limpkin, according to its anatomical characters, belongs to the cranes and not to the
rails, where it before had been universally placed. We therefore do not hesitate to
unite them in the super-family GRUIOIDE®, notwithstanding the holorhinal char-
acter of the rails. In this case the latter character does not seem to me to be of a
fundamental nature, since if the Ocydromine, which unquestionably are rails, really
are holorhinal, as Garrod asserts, they come as near being schizorhinal as any holo-
rhinal bird can, judging from photographs of the skeleton, of which a reproduction
may be found further on (Fig. 60, p. 128). This super-family corresponds with the
usually so-called ‘ order’ Alectorides, a most unfortunate name, however, since its
original inventor made it to include the pratincole, the cereopsis, the seriema, the
screamers, and the trumpeter, the last being the only genus belonging to it as it is now

122 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

usually defined, while the typical forms were scattered about among “ Herodii, Macro-
dactyli, and Lobipedes.” A better name for the group if regarded as an order is
therefore Paludicolx. It also corresponds pretty nearly to Huxley’s ‘family’ Gerano-
morphe, which he characterized as having a relatively strong bill, the angle of the
mandible truncated, and not produced into a slender and abruptly recurved process;
as lacking basipterygoid processes, with only one known exception, and as having a
comparatively narrow sternum. To this we may add that the breast-bone is either
truncated behind without notches, or it has one pair of notches and the lateral pro-

FiG. 58. — Psophia crepitans, trumpeter.

cesses reaching beyond the body of the sternum; the area of the origin of the obtu-
rator internus muscle is triangular, and not oval; two well-developed cixca are always
present. The pterylosis is not characteristic, and powder-downs are neyer present.
Although some of the members of the super-family extend their breeding range even
within the Arctic region, still the great majority are strictly tropical.

Evidently related to the kagu and the seriema, and likewise in their structure
exhibiting characters to a certain degree uniting rails and cranes, the South American
trumpeter birds, Psopump, form the first family. The legs are rather high, and the
toes short, the hind one small and elevated. The bill is short and vaulted, almost

CRANES. 123

Gallinaceous in shape, giving the whole head quite a pheasant-like appearance. The
plumage of the head and neck is short and velvet-like, this peculiar texture being
caused by an upward curvature of the shaft with which is combined a very soft and
almost downy structure of the barbs and barbules. The general arrangement of the
pterylosis, however, agrees perfectly with that of the cranes proper, and, like the
latter, the trumpeters have the oil-gland furnished with a circlet of feathers at the tip.
One of the most remarkable osteological features is, according to Parker, that the
lacrymal (preorbital) bone is followed by a chain of five to seven free suborbitals, like
those of the tinamus. “This cropping-up again of what the tinamus has adopted
from the reptile is very interesting, and is not the only character by which these two
birds may be connected.” The sternum is unnotched, and truncated behind.

Only one genus, Psophia, consisting of half a dozen species, is known, among
which is P. crepitans, the trumpeter. The name trumpeter refers to the loud and yery
curious ventriloquous sound which these birds produce by closed mouth. Agami or
yakamik is the name by which they are known to the Indians. The species mentioned
is confined to the countries north of the Amazon, where it was met with by Richard
Schomburgh, who gives the following account of its habits: “It is found in the forests
all over British Guiana, and may often be seen in flocks of a hundred to two hundred
individuals. They do not seem to leave the forests at all. Being unusually easy to
tame, they are also found in the settlements of the Indians, ruling with undisputed
sovereignty the other poultry as also the tame quadrupeds; even the big hoccos have
to submit to their sway. Their power of flight is so weak that, when the flocks fly
across a river of any. consequence, several of the birds usually fall into the stream
before reaching the opposite bank, in which case they save themselves by swimming.
They seem to prefer the moist forests near the coast to those of the interior. Their
meat is palatable. They nest on the ground.”

The cranes, Grui&, have a longer, more compressed bill, and a harder plumage,
with the tertials usually elongated and drooping, or very broad with open and decom-
posed vanes, in the latter case capable of being raised at will to form a very striking
ornament. Several cranes have a smaller or greater part of the head bare and coy-
ered with papilla. As already remarked, they are schizorhinal, and the hind border
of the breast-bone is truncated. The formula of the thigh muscles is ABXY, BXY,
or XY. . Some —or rather most—of the cranes have a very loud and resounding,
trumpeting or whooping voice, the depth and resonance of which is produced by the
peculiar convolutions of the windpipe within the hollow keel of the breast-bone. The
twistings of the trachea, which enters the keel below, at the junction of the merry-
thought, passes along the edge, then turns forwards, and comes to the front underneath
the body of the breast-bone, then turns back again, being differently bent and curved
in the different species before it finally leaves the hollow and proceeds into the inte-
rior of the thorax, act in a similar way as the convolutions of the French hunting-horn.
The most extreme development is found in the whooping-crane (Grus americana) of
this continent, which “has a windpipe between four and five feet long, of which no
less than twenty-eight inches are coiled up in the keel of the breast-bone.” The length
and development of the convolutions increase with the age, and in the young they
are altogether absent. With regard to these we quote the following from Mr. T. I.
Roberts: “In the embryo crane just about to break the shell, the trachea does not
enter the sternum at all, and is perfectly simple. But the anterior part of the keel,
which is entirely cartilaginous and diminutive, is much more thickened, and a cross

124 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

section of it shows it to consist of two thin walls, separated by a marrow-like substance.
In this feature of the sternum we see the only indication in the embryo of the singular
structure to be developed later in life. The degree of complexity of the trachea is
thus shown to be dependent upon age, and the variations are no doubt fully accounted
for by this fact.”

The cranes are gregarious, and those inhabiting the northern hemisphere are emi-
nently migratory. During their migrations the flocks travel in V-like array, like those
of wild geese. They are mainly vegetable-feeders, and some species are even exceed-
ingly destructive to the grain crop.

The group is one of considerable antiquity, and was formerly richer in forms than
nowadays, like the next foregoing and following families. A gigantic species, Grus

Fic. 59. — Breast-bone and lower part of windpipe of the whooping crane, Grus americana, The entire left side of
the keel has been cut away to show the interior, About one-half natural size.

primigenia, inhabited France during the ‘reindeer period,’ and remains of cranes have
been traced back to the miocene of Europe and the pliocene of North America. <At
present the species are few, and their geographical distribution somewhat peculiar.
They occur now, during one or another season of the year, everywhere except in
South America and the Malayan and Polynesian archipelagoes. One species is
peculiar to Australia, two are North American, four are exclusively African, while
the rest are chiefly Asiatic; the headquarters of the restricted genus Grus being the
temperate parts of eastern Asia.

Altogether there are only about seventeen well-defined species, referable to three
or four genera. On the full-page plate the three chief forms are represented. In the
background are seen a flock of the common European crane (Grus grus), yelling at

CRANES. 125

the approach of the V-shaped flight above. The four birds in the foreground, having
the peculiar crest or crown on top of the head, much like that of a peacock, are the
northwest African crowned-crane (Balearica pavonina); the southern species, 2.
chrysopelargus, having a large, pendulous, naked throat-lappet. In this genus the
windpipe is simple and does not enter the keel. The light-colored bird to the left, in
front of the others, is a ‘demoiselle’ or ‘Numidian’ crane (Zetrapterix, or Antro-
poides virgo), of which a better representation will be found on the full-page cut of
the Baleniceps rex, in the upper right-hand corner (facing p. 172). Like the other
cranes, the demoiselle, which occurs from Mongolia in the east to northern Africa in
the west, is fond of dancing, as described in the following graphic account of the
Russian naturalist, Prof. von Nordmann: “They arrive in the south of Russia about
the begipsing of March, in flocks of between two and three hundred individuals.
Arrivcd at the end of their journey, the flocks keep together for some time, and even
when they have dispersed in couples, they re-assemble every morning and evening,
preferring in calm weather to exercise themselves together, and amuse themselves by
dancing. For this purpose they choose a convenient place, generally the flat shore of
astream. There they place themselves in a line, or in many rows, and begin their
games and extraordinary dances, which are not a little surprising to the spectator, and
of which the account would be considered fabulous were it not attested by men worthy
of belief. They dance and jump around each other, bowing in a burlesque manner,
advancing their necks, raising the feathers of the neck-tufts, and half unfolding the
wings. In the meantime another set are disputing, in a race, the prize for swiftness.
Arrived at the winning-post they turn back, and walk slowly and with gravity ; all the
rest of the company saluting them with reiterated cries, inclinations of the head, and
other demonstrations, which are reciprocated. After having done this for some time,
they all rise in the air, where, slowly sailing, they describe circles, like the swan and
other cranes. After some weeks these assemblies cease, and from that time they are
seen constantly walking in loving pairs together.”

It would not do to leave the cranes without having given the readers a taste of J.
Wolley’s account of the breeding of the crane in Lapland, which Professor Newton
has styled “one of the most pleasing contributions to natural history ever written,”
and I only regret that want of space prohibits the reproduction of it unabridged.
Wolley, in 1853, went to Swedish Lapland in order to find out, among other things,
whether the young crane, on first leaving the egg, is helpless like a young heron, or
able to run about like the young of most waders and Gallinaceous birds, and to observe
the breeding habits for himself. He came after the birds were hatched, but he satis-
fied himself that the young cranes, after leaving the eggs, could run about. He had to
wait a year to get the eggs. Here are his words: “The following year, 1854, on the
20th of May, I went with only Ludwig — my servant-lad —to look for the crane’s
nest in ‘Iso noma’ [the great swamp]. We saw no birds, and the spot where the
nest had been the preceding year was not easy to find in so extensive a marsh. So
we quartered our ground, walking carefully up one strip of harder bog and down the
next. After some hours of heavy walking, I saw the eggs — joyful sight — on an ad-
jacent slip, in a perfectly open place. The two eggs lay with their long diameters
parallel to one another, and there was just room for a third egg to be placed between
them. The nest, about two feet across, was nearly flat, and chiefly of light-colored
grass or hay loosely matted together, scarcely more than two inches in depth, and
raised only two or three inches from the general level of the swamp. There were

-

126 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

higher sites close by, and many of them would have seemed more eligible. It was
just at the lowest edge of the strip, but so much exposed that I thought I should be
able to see even the eggs themselves from a spot at a considerable distance, to which
I proposed to go. There was a common story amongst the people of the country,
that the crane, if its nest were disturbed, would carry off its eggs under its wings to
another place, so I purposely handled one of the eggs, and hung up a bit of birch-
bark on a birch-tree beyond the nest, as a mark by which to direct my telescope.
Then I went with Ludwig to a clump of spruce growing on some dry sandy land,
which rose out of the midst of the marsh. Here I made a good ambuscade of
spruce boughs, crept into it, got Ludwig to cover me so that even the crane’s eye
could not distinguish me, and sent him to make a fire to sleep by on the far side of
the wood, with strict orders on no account to come near my hiding-place. I kept my
glass in the direction of the nest, but it was long before I saw anything stir. In the
meantime the marsh was by no means quiet; ruffs were holding something between a
European ball and an East Indian nautch. Several times ‘peet root, peet root,’ to
use the words by which the Finns express the sound, told where the snipes were. A
cock pintail dashed into a bit of water, calling loud for its mate. The full, melan-
choly wailing of the black-throated diver came from the river; watch-dogs were bark-
ing in the distance ; I heard the subdued hacking of wood and the crackling of Lud-
wig’s fire. It was already about midnight; fieldfares were chasing each other through
the wood; one came pecking about my feet, and another, settling on the branches
that covered my back, almost made my ears ache with the loudness of its cries. I
often heard the waft of known wings, but three times there sounded overhead the
sweeping wave of great wings, to which my ears were unaccustomed. I could scarcely
doubt it was the cranes, but I dare not turn up my eye; I eyen once or twice heard a
slight chuckle that must have been from them. At length, as I had my glass in the
direction of the nest, which was three or four hundred yards off, I saw a tall gray
figure emerging from amongst the birch-trees, just beyond where I knew the nest
must be, and there stood the crane in all the beauty of nature, in the full side light of
an Arctic summer night. She came on with her graceful walk, her head up, and she
raised it a little higher, and turned her beak sideways and upwards as she passed
round the tree on whose trunk I had hung the little roll of bark. I had not antici-
pated that she would observe so ordinary an object. She probably saw that her eggs
were safe, and then she took a beat of twenty or thirty yards in the swamp, pecking,
and apparently feeding. At the end of this beat she stood still for a quarter of an
hour, sometimes pecking and sometimes motionless, but showing no symptoms of sus-
picion of my whereabouts, and indeed no manifest sign of fear. At length she
turned back and passed her nest a few paces in the opposite direction, but soon came
in to it; she arranged with her beak the materials of the nest, or the eggs, or both;
she dropped her breast gently forward, and, as soon as it touched, she let the rest of
her body sink gradually down. And so she sits, with her neck up and her body full in
my sight, sometimes preening her feathers, especially of the neck, sometimes lazily
pecking about, and for a long time she sits with her neck curved like a swan’s, though
principally at its upper part. Now she turns her head backwards, puts her beak under
the wing, apparently just in the middle of the ridge of the back, and so she seems
fairly to go to sleep. I was now sure the crane would not carry off her eggs. After
enjoying for a short time longer this sight —and no epithet is yet in use which ex-
presses the nature of the feelings created by such scenes in the minds of those who

RAILS. 127

fully enjoy them —I found that the air was freezing. I quickly got up, and on reach-
ing the fire made myself comfortable.”

Aramus was still in 1870, by Gray, associated with the typical rails within the
same genus. Here, as in so many other cases, Garrod’s investigations of the anatomy
exploded an arrangement solely based upon external characters. THe, in 1876, demon-
strated that the limpkin is schizorhinal, that it has supra-occipital foramina, that the
palate, the sternum, and, in fact, the whole skeleton, is completely Gruine. He pointed
out that the pterylosis exactly agrees with that of Psophia and Grus, according to
Nitzsch, who says that it would have to be placed with these “if in its bill and its
long toes it did not so distinctly resemble Fadlus. The form of the wings and the
texture of the plumage are, however, exactly as in Ztallus. The myological formula
is BXY. The cxea are well developed, and peculiar in being situated laterally and
close together, instead of opposite one another. Altogether the Aramrp are com-
pletely intermediate between cranes and rails, making their separation into different
sub-orders indefensible.

The family of the limpkins or courlans is a very small one, consisting only of one
genus of two species, and is strictly Neogman, or rather tropico-American, in its dis-
tribution. One species, A. pictus, is restricted to Central America, the West Indies,
and southern Florida. The other, A. scolopaceus, inhabits eastern South America.
Mr. E. Gibson has recently contributed the following notes concerning the habits of
the latter, or the ‘vidua loca,’ as the Spaniards eall it : —

“The Spanish name — the literal translation of which is ‘mad widow ’—is given to
this bird by the natives from its sombre plumage, solitary habits, and peculiar ery. It
is generally distributed through the swamps, frequenting the deeper ones by prefer-
ence, and, though usually found singly, may be met with in fours and fives, or eyen as
many as twenty. Mr. Durnford correctly describes its ‘heavy, laborious flight, per-
formed by slow beats of the wings, which it sometimes raises so high as nearly to
meet over its back,’ but might also have added that the legs hang down at an angle
of forty-five degrees, giving the bird a particularly ungainly appearance, and that its
flight is never prolonged. The cry, more indulged in at night than through the day,
is a loud, long, melancholy wail, and, heard towards the small hours, produces an
uncomfortable eerie feeling on the hearer. It might be some lost spirit of the swamps,
or Nickar the soulless himself, shrieking and crying.”

Since the last family, the Rati, or rails, have already been characterized by
comparison with groups previously treated of, it is therefore sufficient to mention
that they are holorhinal, have no basipterygoid processes, nor supra-occipital foramina,
they have all the five classificatory thigh-muscles, long cca, and tufted oil-glands.
The bill is rather short and hard, the toes very long. The affinities of the family
have also been mentioned, though it should be added that prominent anatomists have
recognized relations towards the Gallinaceous birds. The characters pointing in that
direction indicate, perhaps, the generalized nature of the rail type and its antiquity
rather than direct affinity.

The rails are particularly interesting, not only for their structure and habits, but
also for the fact that the family contains numerous forms which by disuse of their
wings have been deprived of the power of flight, and in which, therefore, the structure
of the parts constituting and supporting the organs of flight have become greatly modi-
fied. The fact that several of these forms have become extinct during historical times
directly or indirectly by the action of man adds considerably to the interest.

128 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

We divide the family into several groups of lower rank, as true rails, wood-hens,
purple gallinules, true gallinules, and coots, the latter being distinguished by their
lobated toes, like grebes, the gallinules by the horny shield which covers the fore-
head.

The true rails are distributed all over the world, being, however, chiefly tropical
and especially numerous in America. They
are usually more or less sombre-colored birds
of very retired, partly crepuscular habits,
populating swamps and marshes, and very
little known — except by their often loud
and harsh voice — to others than those who
as sportsmen or naturalists make them a
specialty. The Virginia rail (Rallus virgin-
ianus) and the Sora rail (Porzana caro-
lina) are familiar examples from this conti-
nent, while the common European corn-
crake (Crex crex) is only a casual visitor to
our eastern coast.

Closely related to the rails proper, but
singularly specialized in many respects, are
the wood-hens, as they are called by the
English colonists in the South Sea. Several
species of the genus Ocydromus are inhabit-
ants of New Zealand, and have, like many
other bird types of the region, lost their
power of flight by disuse. They are rather
large birds, about the size of the domestic
fowl, with stout feet, small and weak wings,
and correspondingly feeble development of
the shoulder girdle and the breast-bone, the
keel being very low, as shown in the ac-
companying cut of the skeleton. The anal-
ogy of the retrograde development of the
fore limbs and the parts supporting them
in these birds, with the state of the strue-
ture in the struthious birds inhabiting the
same region, is very instructive as indicat-
; ing the probable origin of the latter by a
SNS. similar process of reduction caused by disuse.
Pre are In this connection there is a point of con-
siderable importance, viz., that in Ocydro-
mus the angle between the scapula and the coracoids is less acute than in flying Cari-
nates, thus approaching the arrangement in the Struthionine bird, and in the equally
flightless extinet esperornis. A further hint in the same direction is the fact that the
angle mentioned is equally obtuse in the skeleton of the dodo. Some anatomists go even
so far as to suggest a comparatively close relationship between Ocydromus and the
kiwis, as, forinstance, Prof. Garrod, who says “so many features have they in common,
that it would be difficult to bring convincing argument against the statement that Ocy-

Fia. 60.— Skeleton of Ocydromus fuscus.

RAILS. 129

dromus is one of the nearest allies of the Apteryx. This similarity may be the simple
result of similar influences acting on different natures, the diminished necessity for
the use of the anterior limbs allowing them to dwindle in both. But, with the facts
of geographical distribution to back it, the opinion may be fairly maintained that
Apteryx and Ocydromus had the same ancestor not far back in time. It may be said
that the pelvis is very different; but the same remark partly applies to Zinamus, an
undoubted ally, and a bird also most probably of the same stock, though residing so
far off.’ With regard to the geographical distribution, we once more refer to our
remark under Jostratuwla (p. 110), with the addition that Ocydromine birds can also
be traced to the islands of the Mascarene fauna. When the earliest explorers came
to these islands, they found the dodo and other large and strange birds which were
deprived of the power of flight. These helpless creatures very soon became extinct,
by the direct action of man or by the mammals which the first navigators turned
loose, or the first settlers brought with them. Only some old pictures, scanty deserip-
tions, and a heap of bones collected by Prof. Newton, are the remains from which we
have to construct our knowledge of these remarkable forms. A few of them were
brought alive to Europe, where they were figured. Among these are some paintings
on vellum of a curious-looking bird, with a long, snipe-like beak and no wings,
altogether very much like a kiwi. It is evidently the “poule rouge au bee de Bécasse,”
from Mauritius, which is said by a Dutch preacher, J. C. Hoffmann, who lived there
in 1673-1675, to have been caught in the following manner : —

“ A rod is taken in the right hand, and the left is wrapped in a piece of red stuff,
which is thus shown to the birds, commonly assembled in numerous flocks. Whether
the red color terrifies these stupid birds, or whether it attracts them, they approach
the fowler almost without fear; and he, when they are at a convenient distance,
strikes and seizes one. The cries which the captive utters attract its companions,
who seek to deliver it, and thus all become the prey of the fowler.” With this
‘poule rouge,’ Alphonse Milne-Edwards has identified a number of bones collected
in Mauritius by Edward Newton, the examination of which resulted in the following
conclusion concerning the affinities of Aphanapteryx broeckii, as this bird has been
styled: “It evidently was one of the family Rallidw, and there is much less differ-
ence between it and Ocydromus than between this last and the [true] rails.”
Another bird of the same family is the white ‘géant, figured and described by
the French colonist, Leguat, who lived on Rodriguez during the last decade of
the seventeenth century. Leguatia gigantea, which measured six feet in height,
with a body as large as a goose, may possibly be a water-hen or gallinule, with frontal
shield.

The common wood-hen (0. australis), or the weka, as it is called by the Maoris, is
as sure one day to become extinct as was Leguat’s ‘géant.’ We read in Buller’s
History of the Birds of New Zealand that “the weka is too often killed only for mere
wantonness, or the pleasure of taking life. The Maoris of Arowhenua make expedi-
tions in the winter for obtaining a supply of these birds, which they preserve in their
own fat. On one run, near Burke’s Pass, 1 have been told that over two thousand
wekas were secured by a party of natives at one of these hunts. Numbers are also
killed by the settlers for their oil, which is much esteemed for dressing saddle-straps
and for a variety of purposes.”

Of an allied species, O. sylvestris, which inhabits Lord Howe’s Island, between

New Zealand and Australia, we have the following account by Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald:
VOL, Iv. —9

130 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

“When ascending the mountain, the guide stopped suddenly, as a note like the rasps
of a saw was heard at some distance among the loose stones and ferns, and exclaimed,
‘That is a wood-hen. He then imitated the note of the bird, and the wood-hen
replied. He again tried the imitation, but the bird was silent. Another guide accom-
panying us then struck the back of the tomahawk against a tree; again the bird
answered ; further strokes of the tomahawk were useless, no reply could be obtained.
Then a dog was made to bark, and with effect; the call of the bird was again heard,

F1G. 61. — Porphyrio porphyrio, purple-gallinule.

and again and again as often as the sounds were made and varied. At each time it
was apparent that the bird was approaching nearer and nearer to our position, until
the bird ran out, apparently quite confused and bewildered, close to our feet. The
dog seized the bird and killed it, otherwise it might have been captured alive. It
appears that the noise made to attract the bird must be constantly varied, one con-
tinuous sound haying no effect. No wonder that they are becoming scarce, and will,
no doubt, be soon extinct.”

RAILS. 131

The purple-gallinules, as typified by the European species (Porphyrio porphyrio)
and the American Jonornis martinica, are stoutly built birds with a high and
strong bill, frontal shield, long toes without lateral membrane, and a beautiful plu-
mage mostly of a brilliant blue color. The long toes enable them to walk readily
’ over the water plants, and “the large foot is frequently employed to hold the food,
yery much in the manner of a parrot, while the bird is eating.”

Precisely the same relation as have the wekas to the true rails is held by Notornis
and Aptornis, the latter entirely extinct, the former only partially so, to the purple
gallinules. On account of the peculiarities caused by the reduction of the wings they
might be regarded as rather distinct, but recent discoveries and examination of ample
material has shown them to be quite Ralline, though Aptornis, in its sternal modifi-
cations (the breadth of the breast-bone being greatly reduced and the place of the
keel only “indicated by a mere low obtuse ridge), has departed further from the exist-
ing forms.” Notornis is entirely extinct on the northern island of New Zealand,
but on the southern island three living specimens of the ‘moho,’ or ‘pukeko,’
(XN. mantelli) have been taken within this century up to a very recent date. The last
survivors of this doomed bird have been taken in localities nearly a hundred miles
apart, and at intervals of twenty-two, and twelve years, so that possibly a few more
may still be alive in some secluded spot. The first specimen was taken by seal-fishers
in 1847, the third one by a rabbit-hunter in 1881.

A gentle transition to the true gallinules is formed by the so-called Habroptila
wallacii from the Moluccan island Gilolo, a form with a remarkable lax plumage, and
so short and weak wings, that it must be unable to fly, meeting in this respect a true
gallinule from the Samoan Islands, which Hartlaub and Finsch have called Parewdi-
astes pacificus. The large eyes indicate nocturnal habits, and Mr. 8. J. Whitmee
tells that the natives positively assured him that the ‘punahe’ burrows in the ground
and nests in the burrow. It was formerly more common, and is, like all birds deprived
of flight, and confined to a restricted locality, doomed to an early extinction. The
gallinules proper, as represented by our so-called Florida gallinule (Gallinula gal-
eata) and the European moor-hen (G@. chloropus) form a small group scattered all over
the warmer and temperate regions of the globe. A near relative of the last-mentioned
species, which lives on the lonely island Tristan d’Acunha in the South Atlantic, and
has been described by Dr. Sclater as G. nesiotis is worth mentioning, since it most
conclusively illustrates the effect of isolation by reducing the sternal apparatus and the
power of flight, concomitant with increasing the size and the strength of the hind ex-
tremities. In the external appearance and coloration the ‘island-hen’ differs only
little from the moor-hen, which may be regarded as the parent stock, but the form is
shorter and thicker, and the legs stouter, though the toes are not longer. The wing,
however, is shorter, and the feathers remarkably soft and inferior in size. Still more
striking are the differences in the skeleton, for in G. chloropus the proportion between
the size of the breast-bone to that of the pelvis is as 4} to 4, while in G. nesiotis it is as
3} to 5; in other words, in the former the breast-bone is larger than the pelvis, in the
latter the pelvis is larger than the breast-bone. It is therefore easy to understand
that the specimen which was brought alive to London could only “ flutter a little, but
obviously uses its legs and not its wings as a mode of escape from its enemies.”

The last and most specialized groups of the Rallidw consist of the coots, exempli-
fied by our American species, Fudica america, to which is closely related the Euro-
pean coot, F. atra. The character which at once distinguishes them from the other

132 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

rails is the broad lobes of their toes, giving their feet a strong resemblance to the
corresponding organ of the grebes. In consequence they are good swimmers and pass
the greater part of their life on the water, breeding near lakes, pools, or quiet rivers,
and only during the migrations may they be found at salt water. The group is not
more numerous than that of the gallinules, and the different members deviate very
little from the typical species, which are of a slaty black, usually with some white
marks in the region of the tail, the most remarkable species being, perhaps, the rare
South American Zicornis—with some curious caruncles on the forehead. Like the
other members of the family, coots once played a more important réle than now. Also
among the coots we find species, probably deprived of the power of flight, which in-
habited the Mascarene Islands, and became extinct through the action of the early
colonists. Such a one was the large Fudlica newtonii.

Orver VIII.—CHENOMORPH 2.

Ir has been necessary to adopt this outlandish name for the ducks and their allies
composing the present order, in place of the well-known Anseres or Lamellirostres,
since we make it to include two forms which fall outside of the group designated by
the two latter names. Following the view of Parker and Huxley in associating the
screamers with the ducks, the propriety of which shall be treated of further on, we
also adopt the name which Huxley invented.

This order opens the series of desmognathous birds which are characterized by
having the palatal bones united across the middle line, either directly or by the inter-
mediation of ossifications in the nasal septum. “The desmognathous skull,” to use
Huxley’s own words, “ appears under its simplest form in Palamedea [ Anhima] and
the Lamellirostres. In these birds each maxillo-palatine is a broad, flat, and thin bony
plate, which unites with its fellow in the middle line of the palate. The septum may
be more or less ossified. The basipterygoid processes are represented by oval facets,
sessile upon the rostrum, and placed so far forward that the surfaces which articulate
with them are situated close to the anterior extremities of the pterygoid bones.” In
the flamingoes the basipterygoid processes are rudimentary, and the maxillo-palatines
are enlarged and spongy, filling the base of the beak. All the members of this order
have the angle of the mandible strongly produced and upcurved.

The Chenomorphe, as here defined, are divisible into three sections, suborders or
superfamilies, as we may choose to call them, each well defined and presenting
characters of its own. At the present time the gaps between them are rather consid-
erable, and their position relative to other orders is also one of isolation, but the dis-
covery that different though evidently nearly related forms of the Chenomorphe at
present most isolated have been numerous during earlier geological periods indicates
that the gaps may eventually be bridged.

The most isolated, and, on the whole, most generalized group is that of the so-
called screamers, the superfamily of the ANHIMOIDE. The most different views
have been held as to their position in the system, though usually they were referred
to the neighborhood of the rails or the ‘ Alectorides.’ Great was, therefore, the
amazement when Parker and Huxley first announced the view that the sereamers come
nearer to the ducks, basing their opinion upon the anatomical structure. Garrod and
Forbes, however, not less prominent as ornithotomists, held that Anhima and Chauna
were sufficiently remote from all other orders to form one by themselves alone. We

DUCKS AND GEESE. 133

have here accepted the former view, since it seems to us that the osteology points strong-
ly towards the Lamellirostres, while the characters in which they disagree are mostly
of a generalized or ‘reptilian’ character. The extraordinary interest of this group re-
quires that we shall go a little into details. “ All the skull and face, except at its two
ends, conforms to the lamellirostral type,” says Prof. Parker, “ point by point, process
by process, lamina for lamina, all else is truly and distinctly that which belongs to the
sifter, and to no other bird.” It has been remonstrated that the lacrymal region is
not long in the screamers, though this peculiarity is very pronounced in the Anseres
and flamingos, but the Lamellirostral Cereopsis is intermediate in this respect. In the
desmognathous character of the palate, in the situation of the articular surfaces for
the jugal arches considerably behind the level of their mandibular articulations, and in
the configuration of the latter, besides in the prolonged and upeurved angle of the
mandible, the screamers are distinctly anserine. As to the breast-bone we again quote
Parker: “The sternum of this bird differs from that of the goose or swan by just so
much as the sternum of the short-winged rails, especially Brachypteryx [= Ocydromus ],
differs from that of the ordinary types. It is narrower behind, and the episternum
is gone from the front: yet it is thoroughly anserine in character, for the keel does
not reach the end.” The pelvis of the spur-winged goose (Plectropterus), the same
author says, is “exactly intermediate between that of a typical goose and that of a
Palamedea,’ and he also points at the fact that the Plectropterus has the legs longer,
more grallatorial, and better under them than the typical forms. It is also probably
more than a coincidence that the screamers have spurs on their wings—not only
claws to the fingers—like the goose mentioned. The toes of the screamers are not
palmate, but there are true Anseres in which the toes are split nearly as much. Their
most extraordinary osteological feature, however, is the absence of uncinate processes
to the ribs, unique among living birds, and only shared, so far as we know, by the
Archeopteryx. The respiratory organs are truly anserine. Garrod himself admits
that “in that the lower end of the trachea is of a smaller diameter than is the tube higher
up, in that in the same part the constituent rings are in close contact without scarcely
any intervening membrane, in that there are two pairs of tracheal muscles running to
the thoracic parietes, and in that the intrinsic lateral tracheal muscles end before
they reach the bifurcation of the bronchi, the syrinx of the screamers approachesthat of
some of the Anseres,” but adds, “in that there is no special modification of the organ in
the male” they are not Anserine. This may be so in Chauna, but Cuvier, in speaking
of Anhima cornuta, says (according to Dr. Crisp) that “it has a bony box in the mid-
dle of the trachea, like that of the velvet pochard (Oidemia fusca),” a most conclusive
Anserine character. The alimentary canal presents features of great interest. In the
great length of the large intestine, already pointed out by Dr. E. Crisp, it agrees only
with that of Struthio and Rhea, and, like these two types only, the ceca are situated a
considerable distance from the cloaca. Moreover, the ceca agree with those of the
Struthiones mentioned in being sacculated, but they are unique in having a well-
developed special sphincter muscle guarding the opening into a special cavity common
to both ewea, which again is separated off from the colon proper by a very constrict-
ing sphincter. As to the primary myological features it may be remarked that the
thigh-formula is ABXY-+, while in none of the Anseres proper is the Y present. The
latter muscle, however, is of little account to short-legged birds, and seems to be very
easily lost, by swimmers especially. We will see, further on, that the flamingo has
retained the Y, but lost the A. The pterylosis of the screamers is peculiar, since the

134 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

feathers and downs are evenly dispersed over the body, with only an apterium in each
axillary cavity. This is an extremely generalized character, but as the Anseres prob-
ably have developed out of an ancestor in which the plumage was equally uninter-
rupted, it bears only little upon the relationships of the group in question. A pecu-
liarity of the screamers is the extreme pneumacity, not only of the bones, nearly every
one of which is permeated by air, but also of the cutaneous system. As this feature
merits attention, we quote Garrod’s description nearly in full: “The most striking
point observed in the plucked bird is the extreme whiteness of the surface, which de-
pends on the fact that the skin is almost universally emphysematous to the depth of
nearly a quarter of an inch. On pressing with the finger, the characteristic crackling
of a tissue filled with air is most marked. ... In the gannet and the pelican the skin
is likewise emphysematous, but not exactly in the same way. In them the superficial
surface of the cutis forms a plane surface, and the deep layer another, with the air-cells
intervening between them, and the feather-quills traversing them. In Chauna, however,
these two cutaneous layers are not definable, the whole presenting the appearance as
if a non-emphysematous skin had been forcibly blown up, so as to cause its surface to
be irregular and bubbled, more like an artificially distended mammalian lung than any-
thing else. The feathers and the semi-plumes do not perforate the air-cells, but cause
the skin to be indented where they are situated. The disproportionately massive
appearance of the legs is also caused by the presence of air beneath the tessellated
skin, which extends almost to the ungual phalanges of the toes.”

In the bill the ANnumops differ considerably from the ducks and flamingos.
It is short vaulted, and, on the whole, somewhat Gallinaceous in its form, being
neither lamelloso-dentate nor covered with a soft skin. Other external characters of
importance are the long and disproportionately thick legs, the long toes, the low hind
toe, and the long and straight claws.

The habitat of these birds is tropical and temperate South America. The family
is avery small one, consisting of only three species belonging to two genera. Anhima
cornuta (or Palamedea cornuta), the species figured, is a most curious and unique
looking bird, being a true avian ‘unicorn.’ From the forehead rises a thin, forward-
curved horn, five to six inches long, and, as in the species of the genus Chauna,
which have no horns, but naked lores and a long, occipital feather-crest, each wing is
armed with two strong spines, the larger one at the bend, the other further down on
the hand. The horned-screamer does not seem to deserve its name as much as the other
two species, for the sound emitted by it is said to be a loud and sudden hoot, very
different from the scream of the chahas. They are all said to be tamed and employed
by the natives as herders and protectors to the poultry which they defend against birds
of prey and other enemies. Mr. E. Gibson has recently given the following account of
the habits of the crested-screamer : —

“ (, chavaria is, as may well be imagined, a most striking bird, both in size and
appearance; and when such is the case with one individual, the impression produced
by seeing a hundred pairs together is not likely to be less. There is a large island
among a network of swamps a mile from here [Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres], on
which, at certain seasons of the year, I have frequently seen that number, not collected
into a flock, but in pairs. 'The swamps and brackish lagoons constitute its haunts and
feeding-grounds. On one or two oceasions I have seen a bird alight in the deeper
water and swim with only a very small portion of its body immersed ; but it prefers to
wade where the marsh is shallower. But what most excited my astonishment was

SCREAMERS. 135

to see a chaha perched on the top of a tree twenty fect from the ground. A week
after this occurrence I saw three birds in a similar position, in a small wood on the
edge of one of our larger lagoons. During a long residence here, and thorough
acquaintance with this species (seeing it every day, in fact), I have never witnessed
more than these two cases of such a feat on the part of C. chavaria, and should have
been utterly sceptical of the testimony of everybody else to the fact. In the
summer-time it is much addicted to soaring, and scores may be seen at a time,

FiG. 62. — Anhima cornuta, horned-screamer.

rising in great spiral circles till they become mere specks in the sky, and actually
disappear at last. Even at this elevation the ery is distinctly audible, and has often
drawn my attention to the bird as having really vanished into the blue ether. The
cry, which may be often heard at night, is frequently indulged in, and consists of the
syllables cha-ha, uttered by the male, while the female invariably resp:
rather follows it up with cha-ha-li, placing the accent on the last syllable. Preparatory
to producing it, if on the ground, the bird draws back its head and neck slightly; and

ds to it, or

136 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

at that moment, if one is sufficiently near, the inhalation of air into the chest may be
faintly heard. The note is of great strength and volume, and is still distinguishable a
couple of miles away, if the day should be calm. The food, as far as I have been able
to ascertain, is gathered from the floating duck-weed and other vegetable matter of the
swamps. One has to be on one’s guard against the formidable wing-spurs on laying
hold of a wounded chaha. On one such occasion, a stroke aimed at my face as I
stooped to pick the bird up was very nearly successful; the spur caught in my coat-
collar, and I was almost pulled out of the saddle by the bird’s weight. I have seen a
young bird, as yet unable to fly, beat off and follow up a dog, striking quickly and
heavily, the half-folded wings being used alternately. Well might Mr. Durnford
express surprise at the breeding-habits of this species. At the end of June (midwinter)
he took nests with eggs. But September and October constitute the real breeding
season, when the bulk of the birds lay. The nest is a shallow, light construction,
built of dry rushes, with a hollow on the top for the eggs. The foundation is in the
water. Four is the largest number of young I have seen in one brood; but the clutch
of eggs reaches as many as six. These are of a white color, occasionally tinged with
light buff, oval-shaped and smooth-shelled. The young, when hatched, is covered
with an abundance of beautiful, soft down, of a yellow-brown color. In a very few
days they leave the nest and follow the parent birds, generally remaining in the swamps
or close to them.”

It is needless here to enlarge upon the characters peculiar to the ANATOIDEA,
the ‘ duck tribe,’ in its widest sense, since few groups are better known to the general
reader. It is one of the best circumscribed super-families of recent birds, and its dis-
tinguishing characters so well marked externally, that nobody fails to recognize any
member at an instant, be it a swan, a goose, a duck, or a merganser, and most of the
systematic names invented for the group, as Lamellirostres, Lamelloso-dentali, Serrati,
Dermorhynchi, ete. —have been derived from the soft-skinned bill with the curious
lamellar teeth. Most of the species take their food under water, and, when the head
is raised, the water runs out between the lamells, which act like a sieve in retaining
the food, which led to the invention of the English word ‘sifters, as an equivalent
of Lamellirostres. In some forms the lamelle are shortened and thickened so as to
enable them to act as teeth in nipping off grass, as, for instance, in the geese, while in
the mergansers they are modified into retrorse hooks, which serve to prevent the slimy
fish from slipping away. Some of the more important anatomical characters have
been mentioned under the foregoing super-family, and others will be mentioned when
we describe the peculiarities of the flamingos.

Ducks, and their allies, are found all over the globe. Man has found them where-
ever he went, and he has seen them flying northwards at the northernmost point he
has reached.

The first form to meet us of the ‘duck tribe, in its widest sense, is one of those
remarkable extinct birds which formerly inhabited the islands of New Zealand, and
which lost their power of flight through disuse of that faculty, and consequent degen-
eration of the parts. Though originally described in connection with the Moa re-
mains, and found together with them, the Cnremiornis, as it wascalled by Owen, has
nothing to do with Dinornis, or the Struthious birds at all; its ilia and ischia are united
behind, the sternum has trace of a keel, and the palate is desmognathous. It differs,
however, sufficiently from the typical Anseres to require the separate position of a
very marked family which we will call CNrsmorNiTuID 2.

GEESE. 187

The greater part of a well-preserved skeleton, from which Dr. Hector demon-

strated the affinities of Cremiornis to the Anatoidew, was found in the same cave
which furnished the very interesting specimen of a moa’s neck with muscles, skin, and
feathers, referred to on a previous page. It differs in several important respects from
that deseribed by Owen as (. calcitrans, the principal discrepancy being the greater
proportional size and somewhat different structure of the humerus, and may be speci-
fically distinet. The skull proves the relationship to the Anatoidex, but is remark-
ably robust and short, the palatines are firmly united posteriorly with the vomer, the
upper surface of which has a
slight groove to receive the
presphenoid ; the basisphenoid
has large oval basipterygoid
facets; anterior nostrils large,
holorhinal; a soft cere has
- probably covered the basal part
of the mandibles, while only
the part in front was horny,
as in Cereopsis; the character
of the tympanic cavity is quite
peculiar, being bridged across
by a bony process between the
mastoid process and the basi-
occipital. The breast-bone is
large, deep, nearly square, and
without indentations or pro-
cesses behind; it has a trace
of a low keel in the anterior
part, which rises less than one
fourth of an inch above the
convex surface. The meta-
carpal elements are completely
fused at both extremities, the
length being about two fifths
of the length of the humerus. :
The first six ribs had well- F1G. 63. —Skeleton of Cereopsis.
developed uncinate processes.
The pelvis is very robust; the ilium and ischium unite posteriorly, closing the ilio-
sciatic foramen behind. In the hind limbs we note the peculiarity of the presence
of a high epicnemial process, as in Colymbus, in front of the knee-joint, and hence
the name.

Dr. Hector estimates the height of the bird’s back above the ground to have ex-
ceeded two feet, and the total length to have been at least three feet.

That the nearest living relative of Cnemiornis hails from Australia, and is quite
peculiar internally dnd externally, cannot but strike us as natural in view of our expe-
rience with other groups. <A glance at the admirable full-page cut representing
Cereopsis nove-hollandia, the only species of the family Cerzorsrp®, shows us at
once a bird in general aspect resembling a goose, but provided with a quite unique
bill, a heavy and short frame, very stout feet, and deeply indented palmation of the

138 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

toes. The bill is short, very thick at base, its upper outline strongly convex; nearly
the whole beak to a little behind the large nail is covered with a tumid cere of a
lightly greenish yellow color, in the anterior part of which the roundish nostrils open.
In regard to the peculiarities of the skull itself we only speak of the proportionately
short lachrymal region, a part which in typical Anseres is very much elongated. The
keel of the sternum is very deep, its inferior edge very curved, and the anterior angle
pointing comparatively far forwards.

The color of the Cereopsis, or Cape Barren goose, as it is‘called by the colonists, is
of a beautiful brownish ash, lighter on the top of the head, and with roundish black
spots on the wing-coverts. The eye is vermilion red, the tarsus orange, and the toes
and webs blackish. Anomalous as is the structure of this bird, its habits are not less
80, it being a ‘swimmer’ which carefully and entirely avoids the water. It inhabits the
interior dry plains, its diet being, of course, exclusively vegetable. It is a ‘swimmer’
and ‘sifter’ modified into a ‘grazer. Needless to say that its dark flesh is delicious
eating, and, consequently, these shy birds have been persecuted mercilessly both by
the natives and by the white settlers, the result being that the Cereopsis had become
so scarce, as early as Gould’s travels in Australia, that ‘the old bushman’ only met it
twice in a wild state. It breeds, how-
ever, in confinement, and is easily tamed,
but as it is very pugnacious and impe-
rious it is not a desirable addition to the
poultry-yard, and the rather extensive
domestication of this bird, which sprang
up during the early days of the colony, has gradually subsided.

Australia is the habitat of another not less remarkable goose-like
bird, the peculiarities of which seem to us too great to allow it to be
kept in the other families, and hence we would make it the type of
the ANsERANATID”Z. It has usually been referred to the following
group, to which it, perhaps, may also be nearest allied, but who
would recognize the foot represented in the cut as that of a goose?
The long front toes, only united at base by a small membrane, and armed
with long and sharp claws, and especially the remarkably lengthened and
strong hind toe, which is inserted nearly at the same level as the others,
are characters so unique among Anseres that a separate position can hardly
he denied the owner, and the feet, indeed, strongly suggest those of the screamers.
The bill is also very peculiar, a warty skin covering the beak from the nail and the
face to behind the eyes. The conyolutions and position of the windpipe are most
extraordinary and deserve to be mentioned. Yarrell, who made this part of the bird’s
anatomy a special study, describes the windpipe thus: “The trachea is situated on
the outside of the left pectoral muscle, under the skin, sufficiently raised under the
wing that respiration would not be impeded when the bird rested with its breast
on the ground, the parallel tubes being firmly attached both to the muscle and the
skin by cellular tissue. The clavicle of the right side of the bird is of the usual
character, but that on the left is both shorter and wider, having an aperture about
the middle, the sides diverging with a projecting point on the inner side, to which
the tube of the trachea is firmly attached, about two inches aboye the bone of divari-
cation. The trachea lying on the left side of the bird, the lower portion of the tube,
in its passage to the lung, crosses the left branch of the furcula at a right angle,

FG. 64.— Foot of Anseranas.

GEESE. * 139

but, becoming attached to this projection of the clavicle, receives from the point
described its centrical direction into the body. The whole length of the windpipe is
four feet eight inches.”

The semi-palmated goose (Anseranas semipalmata) is a large, striking-looking
bird, glossy, greenish black, with the shoulders, rump, breast, and abdomen pure
white. Its voice is said to be a loud whistling.

Dr. G. Bennett, in a letter to Mr. Gould, speaks of it in the following manner:
“The semi-palmated goose I have seen domesticated in Sydney in a poultry-yard,

FiG, 65.— Plectropterus riippelii, spur-winged goose.

having been hatched by a common hen. This bird in its anatomy evidently ap-
proaches the cranes, and in habits also, Especially when you see it running about the
poultry-yard, it resembles one of the Gruidwe more than a goose.’ And again he
says: “The black and white plumage imparts to the bird a very handsome appearance
as it walks with a stately tread (not with the waddling gait of the goose) about the
yard of my house, like one of the waders.” He further states that they are easily
tamed, are very amicable to the other poultry, but require company in order to thr ive.
The flesh, however, is said to be coarse and not well-flavored. This species inhabited
southern, southeastern, and northern Australia, but seems to have been driven away
from the southern parts by the progress of cultivation. At Dr. Leichardt’s time they

140 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

were so numerous, and the flocks so dense in the north, that the natives were enabled
to procure numbers by spearing them when flying.

Nearly related to the above species are the African PLecrrorprerip&, or spur-
winged geese. As the name indicates, the bend of the wing is provided with a strong
spur, and the legs are rather high, and placed well under the middle of the body.
There are three or four species of the genus, Plectropterus, one of which, P. riippellii,
from eastern Africa, with the high frontal knob, is here figured.

Mr. T. Ayres gives the following account of the habits of the knobless but nearly
related P. gambensis, from the western and southern parts, as he observed them in the
Transvaal: “This is the commonest of our wild geese, and is by no means capital

FiG. 66.— Alopochen xgyptiaca, Egyptian goose.

eating, as the flesh is coarse and tasteless, and the young birds have scarcely any meat
on them. Sometimes they are very shy, and at others almost absurdly tame; as a
rule, it requires heavy shot to kill them. They come out early in the morning from
the swamps and reeds to feed on grass-seeds, and are often seen on the farmer’s corn-
lands: if stalked in the long grass, they will almost invariably creep away, instead of
taking wing; and, unless the hunter has a dog, it is no easy matter for him to find
them, as they run at a good pace, and by the time he is on the spot expecting them
to rise, he sometimes sees the head of one a couple of hundred yards off, examining
the situation; if the shooter squats when the birds are flying, they will often come
and have a look at him, and this curiosity frequently costs them their lives. As a

GEESE. 141

rule they are gregarious, but are sometimes seen singly, and at others in pairs; they
breed away from the water in thick, grassy, or rushy spots, and lay a number of white
eggs with thick, glossy shells.”

Another African form of the same family is the well-known Egyptian or Nile goose
(Alopochen egyptiaca). It is often found figured on the Egyptian monuments, and
was known to the ancient Greeks, who called it ‘chenalopex, or fox-goose, either
because it breeds in burrows, or on account of its color, which is more or less rusty,
especially round the eyes, neck, tertials, and a spot on the breast. The smaller wing-
coverts are white; a green speculum marks the large coverts; bill and feet are brilliant
red; a small frontal knob black. As the name indicates, it is an inhabitant of eastern
Africa, but is often shot in England and other countries of temperate Europe, though

FIG, 67. — Anser anser, gray-lag goose.

probably many specimens have been birds which have escaped confinement, for this
stately bird, in size equalling the common goose, is often kept for ornament in parks
and gardens, also in this country ; and the one which was shot on Long Island in
1872 evidently came from this source. The Egyptian goose has no close ally in the
Old World, and it is a somewhat extraordinary fact that the Orinoco goose (Alopochen
jubata), brown, with green wings and white wing speculum, head, and neck, and with a
slight nuchal crest or ‘mane,’ which inhabits northeastern South America, seems to be
congeneric with it.

Having now disposed of the most outlying forms, there remains the great bulk of th:
ducks, which we unite in the family ANATID&, comprising the geese, swans, tree-ducks,
ducks proper, and mergansers, groups which may be regarded as sub-families. The geese
proper form a well-circumscribed group, characterized by a bill rather high at base, com-

142 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

paratively short and strong ; the lamella hardly deserve that name, being short, broad at
base, tooth-like, and altogether adapted to the grazing habits of these birds. The body
is stout, and the legs placed near the equilibrium, so as to make the movements on land
less awkward than in most ducks. The plumage of the neck is rather peculiar, the
feathers being narrow and arranged in oblique series into more or less conspicuous ridges
and grooves. The two cuts represent two of the most important genera, the gray-lag
being the type of Anser proper, the land-geese, while the common brant (Branta ber-
nicla) shows the chief characters of the sea-geese, which feed particularly on the sea-
grass. The gray-lag goose (which, by the way, is the wild stock of the domesticated
goose) and its allies are restricted to the boreal regions, while the bernicle geese are
equally well represented in the southern hemisphere, particularly in antarctic South

Fic. 68. — Branta bernicla, common brant.

America, where several handsome species, peculiar by the metallic reflections of the
wing speculum, have their home.

One of these, Chlaphaga melanoptera, inhabits the high Andes of Peru and Boli-
via, as high up as 14,000 feet above the sea-level, and has not been met with south of 35°
south latitude. It descends in winter to the plains, but retires in summer to the high
Cordillera, to the verge of the line of perpetual snow. Another beautiful species is
the emperor-goose (Philacte canagica), from islands in Bering’s Sea and Alaska. Be-
sides these there are numerous other kinds, of which we can only mention the names,
the red-breasted brant (Rufibrenta ruficollis), from eastern Siberia, the barred-headed
goose (Eulabeia indica), from India, the swan-goose (Cygnopsis cygnoides), from
China, the Hawkesbury bernicle (Chlamydochen jubata), from Australia, ete. We
will have to stop a moment, however, to consider a genus, containing only a few
diminutive species of geese, the so-called goslets (Nettepus), of which representatives

SWANS. 143

are found in South Africa, Madagascar, India, and Australia. Notwithstanding their
size, which is not greater than that of a teal, they are true geese with atypical bernicle bill.
They are excellent swimmers, however, and pass the greater part of their life on the
water, thus differing from most other geese. The Indian species (.V. coromandelicus),
is described as having a peculiar shuffling gait when on land, as “ after walking a few
steps they always squat.” Jerdon thinks it probable that in the wild state they never
alight on the land.

The swans are distinguished by the extraordinary elongation of the neck, which is
affected by the great number of cervical vertebrae, and not by their being unusually
lengthened, as is the case with most other long-necked birds. There are no occipital
foramina as in most other ducks, and the pelvis is considerably lengthened and rather
narrowed in the postacetabular region. The feet are placed far back, indicating that
the swans are more at home on the water than on the land, as is also evident from the
shortness of the tarsus. The base of the bill, which is anatine in its form, and the
loral region are naked in the adults. The swans are highly ornamental on ponds and
lakes, and several of the species are kept in semi-domestication for that purpose,
especially those with a gracefully curved neck. They inhabit the temperate regions
both north and south of the equator, one genus with one species being peculiar to
Australia, one to South America; one genus is circumpolar, and the fourth is Palseare-
tic; Africa alone has no swans at the present day, This group is apparently nearer
related to the ducks proper than to the geese, but from the caverns of Malta is known
a gigantic fossil form, Palewoeygnus falconeri, which, on account of its high, stout, and
short-toed feet, seems to take an intermediate position between geese and swans.

The discovery of Australia altered many an Old World notion in regard to ani-
mals and plants, and the saying “ white as a swan ” had to be modified when the Aus-
tralian black swan (Chenopis atrata) was discovered towards the end of the last
century. It is a most beautiful species; the neck is very long and thin, its curvature
very graceful, and the inner wing-feathers are curled and raised; the color is entirely
dull black, with white on the wing; the eye is red, and the bill vivid carmine,
adorned with a white cross-band. It is entirely acclimatized in the northern hemi-
sphere. The white swans of the genus Olor, of which two species are peculiar to the
Palearctic region and two to this continent, do not carry their neck in an S-like curve
as do the other forms, but straight, more after the fashion of the geese. They haye a
loud and sonorous voice, the resonant quality of which is due to the convolutions of the
windpipe within the breast-bone, similar to the arrangement already described in some
cranes. The trumpeters or whistling-swans breed chiefly in the Arctic regions, mi-
grating southwards in winter. Somewhat similar in appearance, on account of the
dazzlingly white plumage, but differing in having a most elegantly S-like neck, a high
frontal knob, wedge-shaped tail, and simple windpipe, is the European so-called tame
or mute-swan (Cygnus gibbus), the habitat of which seems to be the western temper-
ate portion of the Palwarctic region. When this snow-white bird with the scarlet bill
is leisurely swimming, the wing-feathers half raised like sails, and the neck doubly
curved, it certainly is one of the most majestic and beautiful members of the feathered
tribes. Among water birds it has no rival on the northern half of the globe, and it
is very doubtful if it does not even excel the South American black-necked swan
(Sthenelides melancorypha), the exquisite grace of which is beyond description, The
plumage of the last-mentioned species is of the purest white, except on the head and
neck, which are of a velvety seal-brown of the darkest shade, in the most striking con-

144 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

trast. The bill, which bears a double frontal knob at base, is light plumbeous; the
knob, intense rose-color, the nail whitish; the legs are flesh-colored. This species,
the smallest of the swans, inhabits South America, from Chili, across the continent,
and southward to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. Mr. Gibson gives some
notes on its occurrence and habits in Buenos Ayres, from which we select the follow-
ing: ‘As there are a great many swamps and fens here, it is but natural that all the
water-fowl should be represented in extraordinary numbers; and accordingly even

FiG. 69. — Chenopis atrata, Australian black swan.

swans are nearly as abundant with us as ducks are in other districts. I haye counted
about two hundred on one small lagoon ina swamp; and the latter is but one in a
whole network of swamps and watercourses. Another great fen, bordering our land, is
known as the Cafiada de Cisneros, or Swamp of the Swanneries, an eminently suggestive
name for the oologist, one which its character well bears out. About the beginning
of the century, the first Christians (so-called in contradistinction to the Indians) who
reached this district were Gauchos, who, in pursuit of swans for the sake of their skins,

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shoe-bill.

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Baleniceps re

‘iN

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Aptenodytes longirosiris, king penguin.

Archeopteryx lithographica.

DUCKS. 145

made occasional excursions from inside the frontiers. Their weapon was the ‘bolea-
dores,’ or balls, of the same nature as those used for catching cattle and horses, and
which are now sufficiently well known for me to dispense with a description of them.
These ‘swan-balls’ differed only in being made of wood, so that they should float on
the water if the Gaucho missed his aim. The swans were tamer and easier to ap-
proach then, and the rider took care always to come down the wind, getting within
forty or fifty yards before they took the alarm. Then a desperate push, if the water
was not too deep, would gain another ten yards, as the swans are taken at the disad-
vantage of being compelled to rise down the wind. The balls are whirled, thrown,
and, twisting round the wings and neck of the bird selected, render it quite helpless.
Nowadays it is difficult to get within gunshot-range without regular stalking. — It
nests very early, July and September, however, being the favorite months. The posi-
tion chosen is always in one of the largest and deepest swamps, the nest being placed
among the thickest rushes, at some distance from one of the lagoons, but connected
with it by a lane of clear water; for the birds always leave the nest by swimming.
It is built from the bottom of the swamp, sometimes throuch four or five feet of
water, above the surface of which it rises a foot or a foot and a half. The diameter
at the top is about two feet. The general clutch of eggs is either three orfour. They
are of a smooth, glossy cream-color.”

The Anatinz comprise the group of sub-family rank, which, with a general term, we
call ¢ ducks,’ including within it tree-ducks, river-ducks, sea-ducks, and a few minor sec-
tions, which at present we cannot satisfactorily place elsewhere. The common char-
acter is the shape of the bill which is constructed upon the plan of that of the tame
duck, rather broad, more or less depressed, with thin and flat lamelle and mostly nar-
row nail, but modified in many ways to conform to the requirements of the different
habits and the different food of the members. The sub-family is rather numerous in
species, and somewhat polymorphic, for some of the forms show strong affinities
towards the swans, others to the spur-winged geese, others again to the mergansers.

It will here be necessary to go a little into details in describing the peculiar bulbous
enlargement of the windpipe so characteristic of most ducks, since in most works of
a general character this feature is usually dismissed by simple mention that such an
enlargement occurs. In the females the windpipe descends regularly to the lower
larynx, where it becomes more or less contracted. The rings coalesce into a small
pyramid with bony walls, from which the two bronchi depart. In no species known
has the female an enlargement like that of the male, with the exception of the Aus-
tralian Virago castanea, the female of which has an arrangement similar to that of
the male, but smaller, as shown by Prof. Newton. The peculiar structure of the male
windpipe consists in a round, bony, bladdery appendage, situated on the left side, just
above the bronchial tubes, forming the so-called labyrinth, or budla ossea. This ap-
pendage is only absent in a few sea-ducks. In the fresh-water ducks it is of a pretty
uniform structure, as typified by the labyrinth of the mallard. Nevertheless every spe-
cies presents minor differences which are constant and peculiar to it. The sheldrake
( Tadorna) has a double labyrinth, with the enlargement on the right-hand side. In
most of the sea-ducks, the labyrinth is of a somewhat different structure, it being
not uniformly osseous all round, but more or less angular, pierced through by numer-
ous openings, the so-called fenestrae, which are covered by membrane. This difference
has been regarded as of systematic importance in separating river-ducks and sea-ducks ;
but the fact that the presence or absence of a lobe to the hind toe is not co-extensive

VOL. Iv.—10

146 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

with a fenestrated or closed labyrinth renders the character useless as such. As ex-
amples may be quoted the common eider, which has a labyrinth much like that of the
mallard, while it is fenestrated in Sarkidiornis and Rhodonessa. Some species have,
in addition to the labyrinth, or alone, a bulbous expansion higher up on the trachea,
as in the rosy-billed duck (Metopiana peposaca) from South America, without lobe to
the hind-toe, and in the velvet-scotor (Oidemia fusca), one of our common sea-ducks.

We shall now briefly review the minor groups into which this sub-family is divis-
ible, commencing with the tree-ducks, which seem to be somewhat isolated, and,
perhaps, might have been made to form a separate sub-family in connection with the
Muscovy duck and the genus Sarkidiornis. The tree-ducks (Dendrocygna) are
remarkable for their long thin neck, the long hind-toe, their arboreal habits, and their
curious geographical distribution. The genus consists of about a dozen forms, which
inhabit the tropical regions of the earth, chiefly America and the Malayan archipelago,
but also India, Madagascar, Africa, and Australia. This general distribution is not
so strange, since we have numerous parallels, as repeatedly observed on previous pages.
But in this case we are confronted with the fact that one species, D. viduata, occurs
both in Africa and in South America. Dr. Sclater, however, thinks it probable that
it has been introduced to the latter country by negro slaves, but we are not aware that
this is more than a mere guess. The Muscovy duck (Catrina moschata), originally
neotropical, but now domesticated nearly all over the earth, is too well known to
detain us further, and the ‘black-backed geese’ (Sarkidiornis) need only be men-
tioned for the curious, compressed, high wattle, that surmounts the culmen for nearly
the whole of its length. The three species, one of which is found in South America,
one in South Africa and Madagascar, and one in India, are exceedingly alike, and
were once thought to be only one species, making one more instance of the kind of
geographical distribution alluded to above.

Not very distantly related to the foregoing genera are the true sheldrakes, Tadorna,
of which the typical species (7. tadorna) is well worth mentioning. Considering its
striking coloration, the head and neck being greenish black; anterior part of back,
sides, and breast rusty brown, shoulders and middle of under parts black; wing-
speculum green, rusty brown behind; bill and frontal knob bright carmine, legs flesh-
color, it will be perceived that it is one of the most striking-looking ducks. The size
is that of a mallard, but it stands higher on the legs, and looks much statelier and
walks better, on account of the more central position of the feet. The sheldrake
inhabits the coast of temperate Europe, and is also found in corresponding latitudes on
the eastern shores of the Palearctic continent. It is sedentary, and, in spite of its
unlobed hind toe, is strictly confined to salt water. The plumage is only molted once
a year; there are no seasonal changes, and both sexes are nearly alike in coloration.
Its breeding history is most interesting, for it nests in burrows made in the sand-dunes
of the coast, either made by themselves or other burrowing animals, as rabbits or foxes.
The inhabitants on several of the small sandy islands off the western coast of Jutland —
notably the island of Sylt—have made the whole colony of sheldrakes breeding there a
source of considerable income, by judiciously taxing the birds for eggs and down,
supplying them, in return, with burrows of easy access, and protecting them against all
kinds of injury. The construction of such a duck-burrow is described by Johann
Friedrich Naumann, who says that all the digging, with the exception of the entrance-
tunnel, is made from above. On top of a small, rounded hill covered with grass, the
breeding chambers are first dug out to a uniform depth of two to three feet. These

DUCKS. 147

are then connected by horizontal tunnels, and finally with the common entrance. Each
breeding chamber is closed above with a tightly-fitting piece of sod, which can be
lifted up like a lid, when the nest is to be examined and plundered. Such a complex
burrow may contain from ten to twenty nest-chambers, but in the latter case there
are usually two entrances. The birds, which, on account of the protection extended to
them through ages, are quite tame, take very eagerly to the burrows. As soon as the
female has laid six eggs the egging commences, and every one above that number is
taken away, a single bird often laying twenty or thirty eggs ina season. The birds
are so tame, that, when the lid is opened, the female still sits on the nest, not walking
off into the next room until touched by the egg-gatherer’s hand. When no more
fresh eggs are found in the nest, the down composing the latter is also collected, being
in quality nearly equal to eider down.

Fic. 70. — Tadorna tadorna, sheldrake.

The coscoroba duck (Coscoroba coscoroba), is «a South American form which, on
account of its large size, graceful neck, and white color is usually referred to the swans.
It is a true duck, however, as proven both by external and internal characters.

The true and typical ducks (Anatinze), the central and most numerous group of
the family, are conventionally divided into two smaller divisions, according to the
presence or absence of a membranaceous lobe to the hind toe, but while there gener-
ally is an easily appreciable difference between a river-duck and a sea-duck, several
forms are so completely intermediate that it is nearly impossible to decide to which
category they should be referred. As far as we know, there is no character, external
or internal, that will naturally divide the sub-family in two. As to the value of the
formation of the trachea and its labryinth, we have already spoken above. The sub-
family is a tolerably homogeneous one, and only few outlying forms belong to it.

148 ‘NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Some species have one or the other organ extremely developed or abnormally devel-
oped, as the common shovelers (Spatula) and the lobe-billed shovelers (Malacorhyn-
chus), which have the bill extremely expanded towards the extremity, and the lamella
very long and thin, like a horny fringe around the tomia; the latter, an Australian
species of peculiar coloration, light brownish gray with dark lunules, giving the plu-
mage a scaly appearance, and a small, glossy, pinkish spot behind the eye, has besides,
a soft membranaceous flap attached to each side of the anterior part of the bill. The
male mallard (Anas boschas) has some of the upper tail-coverts recurved in a peculiar
manner; the mandarin-duck (Dendronessa galericulata), from Eastern Asia, has a ruff
on the side of the neck, and the inner tertial modified into an erect fan or sail-like
ornament ; the pin-tail ( Dajila acuta) and the ‘old squaw’ (Clangula hyemalis) have

Fig. 71. — Spatula clypeator, shoveler-duck.

the middle tail-feathers extremely lengthened and pointed; the scoters and surf-ducks
( Oidemia) have a variously formed knob or tumor at base of the bill; many forms
have shoulder-feathers and tertials greatly lengthened and pendant, etc.; but all are
closely connected otherwise. The geographical distribution offers no peculiarities of
a general nature, except that the sea-ducks are more numerous in the boreal regions
than elsewhere.

Some of the most tastefully and delicately colored birds are found among the
ducks, and some of the rarest colors in the class are here met with. We have already
mentioned the pink spot behind the eye of the lobe-billed shoveler. An Indian
species, Ithodonessa caryophyllacea, remarkable as a fresh-water-duck with the wind-
pipe of a sea-duck, is still more extraordinarily colored, both sexes having the head
and the back of the neck of a beautiful, pale, rosy pink, with a small tuft of still

DUCKS. 149

brighter rosy on the top of the head in the breeding-season. Mr. F’. B. Simson, in
‘The Ibis’ for 1884, gives some interesting notes about this lovely duck, and tells
how, during a shooting-party at Purneah, he secured a couple of specimens for Dr.
Jerdon as follows: “ Whilst going on I marked a small party of pink-headed ducks
into one of the pools, and immediately told Jerdon that if he would leave the party
and come with me I thought I could get a nice shot at his long-coveted birds. So
we took four elephants and started. Of course with noisy, splashing animals any
approach to ducks was impossible; on the other hand, the pool was full of huge
crocodiles. We could see them with our glasses. However, I agreed to go on foot,
the elephants to come to me the moment the shots were fired. I passed through the
tall bamboo-grass in water deepening till it was nearly up to my waist as I came to the
edge, and found myself about twenty yards from ten or a dozen of the ducks. They
were not sitting close together, so I shot the finest with one barrel, and another as they
rose, and I made off to the elephants as hard as I could. Once safe on Behemoth, I
surveyed with Jerdon the sight, familiar to every Indian ornithologist, but always
enjoyable and never to be forgotten, of the wonderful variety of bird-life to be seen
in a spot like this. After having discussed all the species we saw, we examined the
two pink-headed ducks we had picked up with the aid of the elephants. Jerdon was
delighted with them, and said that the pink of the head was far more beautiful than
in dried specimens.” -Mr. Simson states that this species is far from uncommon in a
restricted area of Bengal, its home being the southern part of the district of Purneah,
and in the country bordering, the left bank of the Ganges, between the Coosy River,
which separates Purneah from Bhangalpore, and in the Maldah district. For various
reasons it is little known, however, to the Bengal sportsman and ornithologist, and is
considered rare, ‘the chief reasons being that it is poor on the table, and that it is
never very numerous, nor goes in flocks, nor associates with other ducks. It is resident
all the year round, pairing and nesting in short grass on dry land at some distance
from the pools.

At the southern extremity of South America lives a singular sea-duck, with lobed
hind toe, which, on the other hand, seems to have the trachea of a fresh-water duck.
The early travelers, on account of its curious habits, bestowed upon it the cognomen
of the ‘race-horse duck,’ but those of the present century prefer to call it the
‘steamer duck’ or ‘side-wheel duck,’ “on account of its movements when swimming
presenting a strong resemblance to those of a paddle-wheel steamer.” Others call it
the ‘logger-head duck,’ and its ‘systematic name is Tuchyeres cinereus. At one time
it was thought that there were two species, one incapable of flight, the other possessed
of yolant powers, but Mr. R. O. Cunningham seems to have established the fact that
the ‘flying logger-head’ is only the young bird, and that the power of flight departs
from it as it grows old, or, to use Cunningham’s own words, “that, as the bird
increases in size and weight, owing to the deposition of an increased amount of
mineral matter in the bones and various other causes, it gradually abandons the habit
of flight, finding that the speed with which it can progress through the water by
means of the rapid movements of its wings, together with its diving-powers, are
sufficient to preserve it from threatened danger.”

The eiders form a particularly striking group among the sea-ducks, also peculiar
in some structural characters, haying an unfenestrated labyrinth like the foregoing
species. Also, in the great difference in the coloration of the sexes, and in the males
assuming the plumage of the female for a short season following the breeding, they

150 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

approach the river-ducks. They inhabit the boreal regions, and in countries where
they are numerous and protected, they are of considerable economical importance, the
down of which they build the nest being highly valued. Each nest yields about an
ounce and athird. From Greenland and Iceland alone six thousand pounds, or the
contents of seventy-two thousand nests, are yearly exported. This gives an idea of

F1G, 72. — Somateria mollissima, eider-duck.

the number of these birds in the high north. All along the coast of Norway, where
the bird is protected by law throughout the year, the common eider (Somateria mollis-
sima), is now exceedingly common and very tame. The inhabitants take great care
of the breeding birds, which often enter their houses to find suitable nesting-places,
and cases are authenticated in which the poor fisherman vacated his bed in order not
to disturb the female cider, which had selected it as a quiet corner wherein to raise

DUCKS. 151

her young. In another instance the cooking of a family had to be done in a tem-
porary kitchen, as a fanciful bird had taken up her abode on the fireplace.

Nearly related to the eiders is one of our North American sea-ducks, the history
of which is extremely interesting. We refer to the Labrador duck (Camptolaimus
labradorius), which, to all appearance, is now extinct, or at least very nearly so, since
no capture of a specimen has been reported since December, 1878, while during the
preceding ten years scarcely more than half a dozen birds were obtained. Altogether
only three dozen specimens are preserved in collections, of which eleven are in Europe,
the remainder in North America. The Labrador duck, consequently, is twice as rare
in museums as the great-auk. As it was a good flyer, the circumstances which led to
its destruction must have been quite different from those extinguishing the auk.
Within historical times its distribution seems to have been very limited (the north-
eastern Atlantic coast, presumably breeding in Labrador and migrating southwards in
winter as far as the Chesapeake), but it has always been comparatively rare, even at
the time of Wilson. It is difficult to say what ultimately brought on their extermina-
tion, and the suggestion of an epizooty may be as good as any, but I would submit
another possibility. It seems to be a fact that when a migratory species has reached
a certain low number of individuals, the rapidity with which it goes towards extinction
is considerably increased. Two circumstances may tend towards this result. We
know that when birds on their migrations get astray, haying lost their route and com-
rades, they are nearly always doomed to destruction, that fate not only overtaking
single individuals, but also large flocks to the last member. If the safety of the wan-
derers, therefore, greatly depends upon their keeping their correct route, then safety
decreases disproportionately the scarcer the species becomes, since, if the route is
poorly frequented, the younger and inexperienced travelers have less chance of fol-
lowing the right track, and more chance of getting lost, and consequently destroyed.
The fewer the individuals, the more disconnected become the breeding localities, the
more difficult for the birds to find each other and form flocks in the fall. Finally,
the number will be reduced to a few colonies, and the species, consequently, in danger
of extinction, since a casualty which under ordinary circumstances only would affect
a fraction of the members, now may easily prove fatal to all the remainders of the
species. We need only suppose that during one unfortunate year nearly all the
broods were destroyed by inundations, fires, or frost, to perceive what difficulty the
few birds left in the autumn would have in winding their way without getting astray.
We know that the proportion of birds returning in spring is comparatively small, and
the flocks are considerably thinned down. Under the circumstances presumed,
there will hardly be birds left to form flocks. But birds used to migrate in flocks do
not like to or cannot travel alone; hence they are forced to follow flocks of allied
species, which may take them to localities far from their home. In that way a few
scattered pairs may survive, and breed here and there, a number of years after the
rest are destroyed, and such survivors are probably those few Labrador ducks which
have been captured occasionally during the last twenty years or more. There is a
possibility that a few such pairs may still be in existence, but, however hardy, their
fate is sealed, and perhaps not a single one will get into the hands of a naturalist.

Well may the Erismaturine be called quasi-cosmopolitan. The group, which is
related to the sea-ducks, in reality belongs to the same category as Rostratwa, Sarki-
diornis, etc., having one or a few ‘ aberrant’ representatives in South America, Austra-
lia, and South Africa, in this case somewhat modified, as no species is found in India,

152 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

while one invades the Palwarctie region, and one, our ruddy duck (Zrismatura ru-
bida), is peculiar to North America. The birds of this family are especially charac-
terized by the narrow and rigid tail-feathers, which are only scantily protected with
coyerts at the base. The strangest bird of the group is the Australian musk-duck
(Biziura lobata), the male of which has a large, compressed wattle underneath the
chin, very much like that which Sarkidiornis has on the top of the bill. It very
seldom takes to the wing, even when hard pressed, but it dives with great ease and
can remain under water for an incredible space of time. Its chief mode of progres-
sion is by swimming with the head and part of the neck alone above the surface.
The male is nearly twice as big as the female, and the color of both sexes is a blackish
brown. During the pairing and breeding season the male emits a strong odor of

Fic. 73. — Merganser merganser, European goosander.

musk, which may be smelt long before the bird is seen, and hence the name. The
eggs, which usually are only two in number, are comparatively large, and of a pale
olive color; the shell is rough and very strong. The peculiar voice of the musk-duck
is said to resemble “the sound caused by a large drop of water falling into a deep
well.”

The last sub-family consists of the mergansers, which are directly and closely
related to several of our sea-ducks, but adapted to a diet of living fish instead of the
molluscs which serve the sea-ducks for food. In consequence the bill has been greatly
modified. The great width, being unnecessary, has been reduced, the lamella, no
longer serving as a sieve, have been changed into strong teeth which will prevent the
escape of the unfortunate victims, and the nail has assumed the character of a strong
hook. The result is that these birds are among the greatest destroyers of fish life.

FLAMINGOS. 153

The true mergansers— perhaps not more than seven species —are all adorned
with a more or less conspicuous crest on the head, our North American hooded-
merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus ) being in that respect the most noteworthy, as it
is also altogether the prettiest species of the group.

A small genus of South American ducks are doubtfully referred to this sub-family,
and may probably constitute a separate group, viz., the so-called ‘torrent-ducks’ (Wer-
ganetta). The bill is more like that of the ordinary ducks, but their plumage recalls
that of the mergansers, while a sharp and large spur at the bend of the wing is en-
tirely peculiar. They inhabit only the highest Andes from Columbia to Chili, and
the rapidity with which they swim and dive against the mountain-torrents is described
as truly astonishing.

Among all the curious modifications of the typical bird-beak, none is more strange
and aberrant than that of the flamingos (PHO2NICOPTEROIDE). The lower
mandible forms a deep and broad box, into which the upper one, which is much lower
and narrower, fits like a lid; the sides are provided with quite duck-like lamell ; and,
to complete the oddness of the structure, both mandibles at the middle are bent
abruptly downwards. This makes the flamingo a ‘sifter,’ indeed, and the bill is used
to great advantage in sifting out the various minute crustaceans, molluscs, and vegeta-
ble matter which they gather from the soft mud of the salt-water lagoons frequented
by them. In feeding, the head is bent forwards until the anterior deflected part of
the bill is parallel with the ground. The gullet is remarkably narrow, and allows only
the minutest particles to pass into the stomach. In this particular, and also in the
lamellz and the narrowness of the upper mandible, the flamingos present a most
striking and interesting analogy to the balenid whales, the ‘ whale-bone’ of which has
the same function as the lamelle of the Anatide and the flamingos.

On account of the extreme elongation of the neck (which, by the way, is not
caused by a particularly great number of vertebra, there being only eighteen, but by
a prolongation of the individual vertebra, especially in the middle portion), and also
on account of the equally lengthened legs, the flamingos were associated with the
waders by the early authors. Some recent ornithologists who still adhere to this view
have strengthened it by adducing several anatomical features in support of the affinity
to the Herodii, especially to the ibises. According to them the characters of the
breast-bone, and still more the pelvis, the number of ribs, the pterylography, and the
visceral arrangement point directly toward the latter order. Huxley, on the other
hand, thinks that the flamingo is “so completely intermediate between the Anserine
birds on the one side, and the storks and herons on the other, that it can be ranged
with neither of these groups, but must stand as the type of a division by itself.” This
position, however, seems to us indefensible, since the flamingos show no such peculiar
characters that warrant their independent position. Combining characters of both, it
must belong to one or the other of the two groups, and it does not seem to us that the
characters are so nicely balanced as to leave us in doubt in regard to the place of the
flamingos, following, as we do, those authors who associate them with the Anseres. It
will suffice to mention the following characters: The lacrhymo-nasal region is elongated ;
the frontalia are narrow, not covering the orl its above; grooves for the orbital glands
are present; so are also basi-pterygoid processes, though rudimentary; all characters
which are duck-like and not at all herodinine, and the furculum and the shoulder-blades
are distinctly anserine too. The muscular formula, BXY, points neither way, nor does
the pterylosis strike us as so extremely distinct from that of the Anseres. The partly

154 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

stork-like arrangement of the viscera, on the other hand, is completely counterbalanced
by the strongly and unmistakably anserine nature of the tongue, and by the presence
of well-developed cwca. We do not lay much stress upon the external characters,
though the lamellw of the beak, the palmation of the toes, and the number of tail-
feathers — there being fourteen in the flamingo, but only twelve or ten in all Herodiones
— point in the same direction. A peculiar character is the number of primaries, the
flamingo having eleven, or one more than most birds. The arrangement of the carotids
is also worth mentioning. It is usually asserted that Phanicopterus has only one carotid,
the right —a very unusual arrangement, since nearly all birds which possess only one
have retained the left one. Professor Garrod, however, has shown that this is a mis-
take, and that the flamingo has two ecarotids, though the left one is very small, and
unites with the right one at the point where, in allied birds,
the two arteries meet in order to follow alongside of each
other, —a unique modification, as illustrated by the accom-
panying diagram.

The characters which seem to connect the flamingo with
the ibises and storks we regard partly as ancestral, and partly
as the result of adaptation to a similar mode of life. On the
other hand, placing them, as we do, next to the latter group,
we, of course, do not deny their mutual relationship.

The group is now a very small one, only about eight
species being recognized at present. Otherwise during earlier
geological periods, as there are more fossil Phanicopteroid
Fic. 73.—Carotids in Phenicop- birds known from the deposits in France alone than are now

terus; c, wortic arch; h origin distributed all over the tropical and sub-tropical world. The

of aorta; /c, left carotid; Ji,
left innominate artery; ls, left tyne is therefore a rather antique one, and at one time num-

Tua; re .vight inaomina’s] erons apecies and inhabited the shor ;
ee, rials tahetavian. ; pecies and genera inhabited the shore of the lakes
and estuaries under latitudes considerably north of the pres-
ent limit of the family. In the eocene beds of France have been found remains of ap-
parently flamingo-like birds, upon which have been based the genera Agnopterus and
Elornis. From the miocene deposits there are described a Phanicopterus croizeti,
and not less than five species of the genus Palwolodus. As will be seen from the
accompanying sketch of the restored skeleton of one of these, they were essentially
like the flamingos of the present day in regard to the length of the legs and neck, but
the bill was straight and altogether more normal than in the latter, the undeveloped
young of which likewise has a straight bill. They very properly constitute the family
PAaLXOLODONTID®”.

The recent PaanicopTertp£ embrace only two genera, Phenicoparra and Phe-
nicopterus. The former, which is characterized by its thick, short, and otherwise
aberrant beak and the absence of a hind toe, is peculiar to the Andes of Chili and
Peru, and consists only of one imperfectly known species, P. andinus.

Of the true flamingos the species belonging to the fauna of the United States,
P. ruber, has been known under this name since the time of Linneus, but he and his
successors during the last century believed it to be conspecific with the Mediterranean
species. Bonnaterre, in 1790, and Temminck thirty years later, expressed a belief of
their being separable ; but Brehm in 1823 seems to have been the first author to take
their distinctness for granted, adopting without hesitation the name P. antiquorum,
which Temminck had only proposed hypothetically.

FLAMINGOS. 155

The flamingos are often kept in captivity, and their manners and habits, so far as
they could be observed in a zoological garden, are well known. In the wild state,
however, they are extremely shy birds, and of their breeding history nearly nothing
was known, the old fable of their riding astride on top of high pyramids being copied
from age to age in words and pictures, notwithstanding that Naumann, as early
as 1838, demonstrated the anatomical and
physiological impossibility of the alleged
position of the breeding bird, and in spite
of Dr. Cresson’s assertions to the contrary.
The story originated with the famous tray-
eler Dampier, but from his narrative it is
clear that he was only speaking upon hear-
say evidence; for when, in 1683, he visited
the Cape Verde Islands, he found only nests
and young ones, but no eggs; and the ac-
count of the breeding is therefore evidently
based upon the tales of the natives. It runs
as follows : —

“ When incubating they stand with their
legs in the water, resting themselves against
the Hillock, and covering the hollow Nest
upon it with their Rumps; for their Legs
are very long; and building thus as they
do upon the Ground they could neither
draw their Legs conveniently into their
Nests, nor sit down upon them otherwise
than by resting their whole Bodies there, to

— ——-—
SS Sa a

the Prejudice of their Eggs or their Young, es
were it not for this admirable Contrivance 16.75. — Restoration of the skeleton of Pal@olodus

= : ambigquum.
which they have by natural Instinct.”

His statement has, however, been generally, if not universally, accepted, for want
of a better, inasmuch as no competent observer had succeeded until 1881 in watching
the manner in which the flamingo performed the task of incubation. Eggs have,
indeed, been obtained by the bushel, but the wariness of the birds precluded any trust-
worthy account until the visit of H. H. Jonston, in 1881, to a small colony in the Lake
of Tunis, and of Mr. Abel Chapman, in 1883, to a large one near the mouth of the
river Guadalquivir in Spain. The former says: “I took up my opera-glass and saw
on two mounds, some foot and a half high, two flamingos sitting with their legs under
them. Of this I am certain: I could see the tarsi protruding beyond the loose plumes
of the wings.” The latter gentleman’s account is fuller, so we give the following
extract from his narrative: —

“The islands were about six miles distant from the low shores of the ‘marisma,’
and at that distance no land whatever was in sight. The only relief from the monot-
ony of endless wastes of water were the birds; a shrieking, clamoring crowd hung
overhead, while only a few yards off the surface was dotted with troops of stilts,
sedately stalking about, knee-deep. Beyond these the strange forms of hundreds of
flamingos met one’s eye in every direction,—some in groups or in dense masses;
others, with rigidly outstretched neck and legs, flying in short strings or larger flights,

156 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

‘glinting’ in the sunlight like a pink cloud. Many pairs of old red birds were observed
to be accompanied by a single white (immature) one. On examining narrowly the
different herds, there was an obvious dissimilarity in the appearance of certain groups:
one or two in particular seemed so much denser than the others; the narrow white
line appeared at least three times as thick, and in the centre it looked as if the birds
were literally piled upon each other. Felipe suggested that these birds must be at
their ‘pajarera,’ or breeding-place; and after a long ride through rather deep water
we found that this was so. On our approach, the cause of the peculiar appearance of
the herd from a distance
became clearly discerni-
ble. Many of the birds
were sitting down on a
low mud island; some
were standing on it, and
others, again, were in the
water. Thus the differ-
ent elevations of their
bodies formed what had
appeared atriple or quad-
ruple line. On reaching
the spot we found a per-
fect mass of nests; the
low mud plateau was
crowded with them as
thickly as the space per-
mitted. These nests had
little or no height: some
were raised two or three
inches, a few might be
five or six inches; but
the majority were mere-
ly circular bulwarks of
mud, with the impression
of the birds’ legs dis-
tinctly marked on it.
The general aspect of the
plateau was not unlike a large table covered with plates. In the centre wasa deep hole
full of muddy water, which, from the gouged appearance of its sides, appeared to be
used as a reservoir for nest-making materials. Scattered all round this main colony were

FIG. 76. — Phenicopterus antiquorum, tlamingo.

numerous single nests rising out of the water, and evidently built up from the bottom.
Here and there two or three or more of these were joined together, — ‘ semi-detached,’
so to speak; these separate nests rose some six or eight inches above the water-level,
and were about fifteen inches across. The water was about twelve or fifteen inches deep.
None of these nests as yet contained eggs, and though I returned to the ‘pajarera’ on the
latest day I was in the neighborhood (May 11), they still remained empty. On both
occasions many hundreds of flamingos were sitting on their nests, and on the 11th
we had a good view of them at close quarters. Linked arm and arm with Felipe, and
crouching low on the water, to look as little human as possible, we approached within

HERONS. 157

some seventy yards before their sentries showed signs of alarm, and at that distance
with the glass observed the sitting birds as distinctly as one need wish. Their long
red legs doubled under their bodies, the knees [heels!] projecting as far as or beyond
the tail, and their graceful necks neatly curled away among their back-feathers, like a
sitting swan, with their heads resting on their breasts, — all these points were unmis-
takable. Indeed it is hardly necessary to point out that in the great majority of cases
(the nests being hardly raised aboye the level of the flat mud), no other position was
possible. Still none of the crowded nests contained a single egg! How strange it is
that the flamingo, a bird which never seems happy unless up to its knees in water,
should so long delay the period of incubation! for, before eggs could be hatched in
the nests, and young reared, the water would have entirely disappeared, and the
flamingos would be left stranded in the midst of a scorching plain of sun-baked mud.
Being unable to return to the marisma, I sent Felipe back there on 26th May, when
he found eggs.”

So much for the breeding habits, of which the accompanying cut gives a most
excellent illustration. 'To complete the picture of these interesting birds we add the
following, also from Mr. Chapman’s pen : —

“In herds of three hundred to five hundred, several of which are often in sight at
once, they stand feeding in the open water, all their heads under, greedily tearing up
the grasses and water-plants from the bottom. On approaching them, which can only
be done by extreme caution, their silence is first broken by the sentries, who com-
mence walking away with low croaks; then the hundreds of necks rise at once to the full
extent, every bird gaggling its loudest, as they walk obliquely away, looking back over
their shoulders as though to take stock of the extent of the danger. Pushing a few
yards forward, up they all rise, and a more beautiful sight cannot be imagined than
the simultaneous spreading of their crimson wings, flashing against the sky like a
gleam of rosy light. In many respects these birds bear a strong resemblance to
geese. Like them, flamingos feed by day; and great quantities of grass, etc., are
always floating about the muddy water where a herd has been feeding. Their cry is
almost undistinguishable from the gaggling of geese, and they fly in the same catena-
rian formations.”

Orper IX.— HERODIL.

The limitation of the present order, as it is adopted here, dates back only to
1867, when Huxley founded the ‘family’ Pelargomorphe for all the desmognathous
‘waders’ except the flamingos. His action was then cordially welcomed as a relief
from the different attempts of separating the larger and hard-billed waders and the
Scolopacoid birds, attempts which had failed, since the separation was based upon the
length and position of the hind toe, or the condition of the feathering of the face, or
the situation of the nostrils, or the nature of the bill, or the condition of the young when
leaving the egg, or some other trifling character. Broadly speaking, the group pro-
posed by Huxley consists of three types, —ibises, storks, and herons, which, in addi-
tion to the desmognathous character of the palate, agree in having no trace of basi-
pterygoid processes, therein differing from the members of the foregoing order, and in
having long ‘ wading’ legs with no full webs between the toes, therein different both
from the foregoing order and from that following, the Steganopodes. At first the group
was generally regarded as a very natural and rather homogeneous one. The only dis-

158 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

sent came from those authors who expected to add to the naturalness and homoge-
neity by including the flamingos, though Professor Parker, it must be admitted, all the
time tried to show that the distance of the Pelargomorphze from some of the schizo-
gnathous waders was not so great as most authors were ready to concede since Hux-
ley’s scheme of classification had commenced to overthrow the old notions. As to
the mutual relationship of the forms included, the views were a little divided, some
authors holding that the ibises and storks were more closely allied than the storks and
herons, others defending the opposite opinion. The latter are now generally conceded
to be right, but so far have some modern anatomical systematists gone as to assert that
the ibises are so different from the storks and herons, and so much like the schizo-
gnathous waders, that they are better classified with the latter than with the former,
Forbes being foremost among the authors recommending this course. Forcible argu-
ments are produced on both sides, but a final decision is extremely difficult, since it
seems to depend upon the question whether the desmognathism is so important a
character that it counterbalances the many characters in which herons and storks dis-
agree with the ibises, and which the latter have in common with the Gralle. For
obvious reasons we shall not try to solve the question here, but will retain the ibises
in this order, though regarding them as a group of equal taxonomic value to the
storks and herons combined.

We therefore propose to treat them as a super-family under the name of IBIDOT-
DE, and shall at once proceed to point out the chief characters by which they differ
from the Ardeoidew. The former, which embrace ibises and spoonbills, are schizo-
rhinal; the posterior angle of their mandible is recurved ; occipital foramina are pres-
ent; the edge of the cranium above the orbits is truncate, indicating the position of
the nasal glands; the breast-bone is four-notched behind, like that of the curlews;
the accessory femoro-caudal is present. They also differ from the storks and herons
in the form of the furculum and its relation to the breast-bone, the number of ribs,
and several other characters of more or less importance. Externally the two super-
families are easily distinguished by the bill, the Ibidoidex having it weak and fur-
rowed by a long groove for nearly its whole length.

As indicated above, the present super-family embraces the ibises and the spoon-
bills, but while the members of these two groups look extremely dissimilar on account
of the apparently enormous difference in the shape of their bills, they are otherwise
so closely allied as to be hardly allowed more than sub-family rank; hence we recog-
nize only one family, the Isto. The bill of the ibises is more or less cylindrical,
and evenly arched from the base, much after the fashion of a curlew’s bill. The
spoonbills have the beak greatly flattened and broadened, anteriorly widened into a
spoon-like or spade-like expansion. The Ibididw inhabit the warmer portions of the
globe, but are not very numerous, some thirty living species being known. Several
fossil forms have been described, however; for instance, Jbis payana and Ibidopodia
palustris, from the miocene deposits of France, which are said to show even greater
affinities to the curlews than the recent species.

First in the line comes, of course, Zhis athiopica, the sacred ibis of the ancient
Egyptians (and of the British Ornithologists’ Union). In explanation of the accom-
panying cut, it may be stated that the head and neck are entirely naked, and the skin
black ; the feathers of the body are white; the lengthened and disconnected barbs of
the tertiaries are beautifully blackish purple.

According to the Rey. E. C. Taylor, the buff-backed heron “does duty on the

IBISES. 159

Nile as the ibis, being generally pointed out to trave.ers by dragomans, etc., as the
real Ibis religiosa.” This is due to the fact that the “sacred ibis,” to quote Mr. D.
G. Elliot’s words, “is no longer met with upon the Nile north of Khartum, and I do not
know of any authentic account of its having been seen in Egypt in modern times;” and
Dr. A. L. Adams finds “no reason for considering the sacred ibis to have been a
native at any time of either Egypt or Nubia.” A few straggling individuals to
lower Egypt have, however, been recently reported. The latter author continues as
follows: “No doubt it was imported by the ancient Egyptians; and judging from
the numbers which are constantly turning up in the tombs and pits of Sakkara and

FIG. 77. — bis ethiopica, sacred ibis.

elsewhere in Egypt, and the accounts of Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, ete., the ibis
must have been very numerous, and, like the brahmin bull in India, ‘did as it choosed’
The last-named writer says, ‘every street in Alexandria is full of them. In certain
respects they are useful, in others troublesome. They are useful because they pick
up all sorts of small animals, and the offal thrown out of the butchers’ and cooks’
shops. They are troublesome because they devour everything, are dirty, and with
difficulty prevented from polluting in every way what is clean, and what is not given
to them.’ The late Mr. Rhind informed me that he found several jars of white eggs,
as large as a mallard’s, along with many embalmed bodies of ibises, at Thebes.
Mummied ibises are usually found alone, but sometimes with the sacred animals; and

160 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

although Hermopolis was the patron city of the bird, as Buto of the kestrel and other
hawks, we find it also among the tombs of Thebes and Memphis. No doubt the
white ibis was imported into Italy and kept about the temples of Isis. It was the
emblem of Thoth, the scribe or secretary of Osiris, whose duty it is to write down
and recount the deeds of the deceased ; in consequence the bird is constantly seen on
the ancient monuments under various forms.”

The sacred ibis inhabits tropical Africa down to the Transvaal; a very near ally,
I. bernieri, is peculiar to Madagascar, while another, also very closely related form, J.
strictipennis, inhabits Australia and several of the Moluccan islands.

In regard to the habits of this famous bird, the “ well-known portrait of which
greets us — ever welcome — every quarter,” we make the following abstracts from
the account of Dr. R. Vierthaler, who had rich opportunities for studying these birds
in their native haunts. “In the beginning of September they build, in the neighbor-
hood of Khartum, their nests on the mimosas which stand in the middle of the inun-
dated marshes, twenty to thirty on a single tree. The nest is more or less skilfully
made, of the size of that of the rook, and woven together of coarse twigs, with an
inner layer of fine grass and a few feathers. The eggs, which are of a greenish white,
are generally three — rarely four —in number, and the size that of the mallard. It only
breeds once a year, but does not confine itself strictly to one quite fixed time, as I
found young ones in November of the same size as those taken in the latter part of
September, and it is not probable that this was caused by any disturbance during the
breeding, since the nests are nearly inaccessible, small boats being entirely wanting.
In freedom the ibis shows a considerable cunning, and is so shy that the hunter can-
not creep up to it, and almost always follows it in vain. It does not show any fear at
all for the natives, and I saw it often among the cattle, quite regardless of the shep-
herd or any other black man who happened to be quite near. The flesh of the young
as well as the old birds is savory and tender, and when well prepared it is a great
dainty. The old Egyptians do not appear to have been acquainted with this fact, or
they would not probably have embalmed them.”

The extent of the feathering on the head and neck is very variable in the ibises,
and numerous generic appellations have been created in consequence. In other
respects the group is rather homogeneous, and few striking abnormalities can be
recorded. <A curious modification of the feathers is found in the straw-throated ibis
(Carphibis spinicollis) from Australia, which has the feathers of the front of the neck
and breast changed into stiff and blunt spines, which in appearance and color are
surprisingly like short bits of straw hanging down over the breast in front. Both
males and females are said to possess this ornament, and, in fact, the sexes are similar
in all these birds.

We have already, in the introduction (p. 9), alluded to the fact that the two alleged
species of the genus Guara, the white and the scarlet ibises, are structurally identical,
only differing in coloration as indicated by the names. The scarlet species is a native
of northeastern South America, and has only been reported as seen, but not obtained,
within our fauna, On account of the brillianey and pureness of its red color, it is one
of the most beautiful water-birds, and as it bears the captivity quite well, it is often
kept in the zoological gardens. Here, however, the scarlet coloration soon gives way
to a regular rosy tint.

Only one species, namely the glossy ibis (Plegadis autumnalis), is distributed over
all the warmer regions of the globe. Like its congeners it has nearly the whole head

SPOON-BILLS. 161

feathered, except a stripe between the eye and the base of the bill. In that respect

* they represent the opposite extreme to the sacred ibis.
The name of the spoonbills explains itself, and it is hardly necessary to refer to
the accompanying illustration, for no one who ever saw any of these large and beauti-
ful birds with the singular beak mistook it for anything else. The Old World species

Fi. 78. — Platalea leucorodia, spoon-bill.

(Platalea) are all nearly pure white, while the American spoonbill (Ajaja ajaja) is
light rose-colored, with brilliant carmine wing-coverts. In their general habits, as in
their structure, the spoonbills are only modified ibises. Like these they also fly with
outstretched necks, perch on trees, and also generally breed in trees. Messrs. Sclater
and Forbes have demonstrated that, in certain localities at least, the spoonbill of

Europe, P. leucorodia, breeds on the ground among the reed-beds. In 1877 they vis-
VOL. Iv. —11

162 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

ited a breeding colony near Amsterdam, in Holland, from the interesting account of
which we select the following : —

“ Having inspected the cormorants’ breeding-place, we proceeded about fifty yards
further through the reed-beds, over a still more treacherous swamp, to the breeding-
place of the spoonbills. The nests of these birds were not situated so near together
as those of the cormorants, but scattered about two or three yards from each other,
with thin patches of reeds growing between them. There was, however, a clear open
space in the neighborhood, formed of broken-down reeds, in which the birds were said
to congregate. The spoonbill’s nest, in the Horster Meer at least, is a mere flattened
surface of broken reed, not elevated more than two or three inches above the general
level of the swamp; and no other substance but reed appears to be used in its con-
struction. What the proper complement of eggs would be if the birds were left
undisturbed we cannot say, for, as in the case of the cormorants, the nests are robbed
systematically twice a week, until the period when it is known by experience that they
cannot produce any more eggs. Then at last the birds are allowed to sit undisturbed.
At the time of our visit the season for collecting eggs was just past; but we helped
ourselves to eight fresh eggs, from different nests, laid since the last collection had
been made. During all the time that we were in the reed-beds, the cormorants and
spoonbills were floating about over our heads, fully aware that there was an enemy
in the camp.”

The characters of the super-family ARDEOIDE® having already been stated to
be the reverse of those given for the Ibidoidew, we may at once proceed to treat of
the separate families.

Through the wood-ibises, which, indeed, until very recently, in the systems were
associated and more or less confounded with the true ibises, we are led into the
Ciconup.®, the storks. With a general resemblance to the herons, the storks combine
quite important external and internal characters of their own. Of the former it is
sufficient to mention the connection of all the anterior toes at the base, the scutella-
tion of the tarsus, the evident, though slight, elevation of the hind toe, and the broad-
ness of the feather-tracts. The internal peculiarities are still more important. The
pectoral muscle, which in all members of the super-family is more or less separable
into two layers, is completely double in the storks; the ambiens is rarely absent;
flexor hallucis sends a special slip to the second toe; an expansor secundariorum is
present ; in regard to the respiratory organs it is to be remarked that the syrinx has
no intrinsic muscles, and that the storks consequently are deprived of voice, and the
only sound they produce is a loud clatter, by beating their huge mandibles together ;
the rings of the bronchi are complete. Rudiments of two ceca are visible.

The storks are diurnal birds, usually of solitary habits, though some of them nest
in colonies, as, for instance, the wood-ibises. Their peculiar clattering of the bill in
defect of the voice is already mentioned. Their flight is easy, powerful, and quiet.
A flying stork may always be told from a heron on the wing, as it keeps the neck
directed straight forward, like the ibises, while the heron flies with the neck bent and
the head withdrawn so far back as to rest above the shoulders.

The family comprises about two dozen species of a somewhat peculiar geographical
distribution. While occurring all over the tropical and temperate regions of the
world, they are nearly wanting in North America; for although both the wood-ibis and
the jabiru are enumerated in our faunal lists, only the former occurs and breeds regu-
larly in the southern parts of the country, the latter being only an occasional visitor.

STORKS. 163

Australia also has only one species. The different forms, with the exception of the
true storks, are so distributed that it would seem as if a species inhabiting one part of
the world is nearer related to those inhabiting distant regions than to those which live
on the same continent. The South American maguari stork, for instance, is more
nearly allied to the Old World forms than it is to either the jabiru or the wood-ibis,
which are both American. The true storks are strictly Paleeogzean, while the curious
open-bills are Indo-African.

Fia. 79. — Tantalus loculator, wood-ibis.

The stork family has been traced as far back as the miocene formation, from the
beds of which, in France, A. Milne-Edwards has described a species, Pelargopappus
magnus. :

The wood-ibises form a somewhat isolated group of apparent affinities to the true
ibises, with which they were formerly associated by most systematists, and one species,
Pseudotantalus rhodinopterus, was, indeed, regarded as the ibis, —that is, the sacred
ibis of the Egyptians,— until the beginning of this century. The resemblance is
quite obvious in the sub-cylindrical and gently curved bill as represented in the accom-

164 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

panying cut; but the bill is yellow, and the naked face and the feet are red. The
plumage is white, tinged with rosy on the wing coyerts. It is common throughout
the Ethiopian region, but is scarce in Egypt.

The American wood-ibis (Zantalus loculator) is especially at home in South
America, but its range includes also our southern states. It breeds abundantly in
Florida.

Fra. 80. — Leptoptilos crumenifer, marabou, adjutant.

The genus Leptoptilos, as typified by the African marabou-stork (Z. crumenifer),
white, with a greenish slate-colored mantle, offers some interesting features. Ana-
tomically, the absence of the femoro-caudal with its accessory slip is noteworthy as
unique among the storks. A striking feature is the long pendant pouch underneath
the flesh-colored and black-spotted naked neck, which gives the birds a peculiar,
unattractive, not to say ugly, appearance, as well pictured in our cut, The exact use
of the pouch is not yet ascertained; so much is sure, however, that it connects with

STORKS. 165

the respiratory system, not with the esophagus, as is the popular notion; Blyth
regarded it as a reservoir of air for supply during protracted acts of deglutition in the
species which feed upon carrion. They also present another unique feature, as the
semi-plumes of the anal region are lengthened so as to protrude beyond and conceal
the true feathers, thus forming a downy ornament of a most interesting character.
These under tail-coverts are the so-called marabou feathers, which — especially formerly
—were used extensively on ladies’ hats. Jerdon informs us of the habits of the
large Indian species, Z. dubius, as follows : —

FiG. 81. — Anastomus lamelligerus, open-bill.

“In Caleutta and some other large towns, the adjutant is a familiar bird, unseared
by the near approach of man or dog, and protected in some cases by law. It is an
efficient scavenger, attending the neighborhood of slaughter-houses, and especially the
burning-grounds of the Hindus, where the often half-burnt carcasses are thrown into
the rivers. In the Decean it soars at an immense height in the air, along with vul-
tures, ready to descend on any. carcass that may be discovered. After it has satisfied
the cravings of its appetite, the adjutant reposes during the heat of the day, some-

166 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

times on the tops of houses, now and then on trees, and frequently on the ground,
resting often on the whole leg (tarsus). The adjutant occasionally may seize a crow
or @ myna, or even, as related, a small cat; but these are rare bits for it, and indeed
it has not the opportunity, in general, of indulging its taste for living birds, notwith-
standing Cuvier’s statement that its large beak enables it to capture birds on the
wing.”

Fi, 82. — Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis, saddle-billed stork.

The name of open-bill is suggested by a glance at the bird illustrated in the accom-
panying cut. Towards the end of the beak the lateral margins of the mandibles are
separated by a more or less open space, as if they were worn away, so as to assume
the shape of a pair of pinchers. The gap between the mandibles is said to exist even
in the young individuals, thus not being the result of attrition, as is generally sup-
posed, and the curious shape is believed to be “a provision of nature to enable them
to open the shells of the Unio, on which they feed.” Their principal food being

STORKS. 167

molluses, they have also been called ‘shell-ibises.’ Jerdon tells how he saw a blinded
open-bill extracting the whole animal of an Ampullaria without breaking the shell,
the bird first securing it by its feet and cutting off the opereulum. Two species com-
pose the genus Anastomus, one from India and Indo-China, the other from the Ethio-
pian region. The latter, which is the species figured, differs chiefly in having the

FIG. 83. — Sphenorhynchus abdimii, white-bellied stork.

feathers of the neck and lower parts ending in a horny lamella, hence the specific
name, A. lamelligerus. The general color is blackish, shining green, and purple.

The American jabiru (Mycteria americana) differs from its Indian and Australian
relatives in having the whole head and neck naked, and black, with a flesh-colored
ring round the lower end of the neck. In having the end of the bill slightly turned
up, the saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) agrees with the jabirus,
but it has a peculiar, soft membranaceous shield on top at base of the bill, therein
agreeing with the following species (Sphenorhynchus abdimit), of which a figure is

168 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

also given. These two, furthermore, agree in being the only two storks in which the
ambiens muscle is wanting. Both are natives of Africa. The former was met with
by Dr. J. Kirk in the Zambesi region. He states that it feeds on snakes, frogs, and
fish, which latter it was seen catching in the shallow water of the river Rovuma, by
running forward rapidly, so as to make the fish rush past it, when it caught them,
keeping its bill all the while in the water. He asserts that they are commonly found
in pairs, —never in large flocks. Mr. Ayres says that occasionally, when the pairs are
feeding together, they suddenly stop and skip or dance round and round in a small
circle, then, stopping to bow to each other, again resume their quaint dance. The
bird is white, with the head and neck black, glossed with bronze-green ; scapulars and
wing and tail feathers black. The bill is described as bright crimson with a black
‘saddle, as seen in the figure; the frontal shield bright yellow; shanks and tarsi
black, heels and feet brick-dust red. The female is said to have the iris yellow, while
it is brown in the male.

The white-bellied stork (8S. abdimii) is characterized by its short legs. Above, it
is greenish purple, the neck brown with purplish gloss. The bill is greenish with
orange-red tip. Dr: Alfred E. Brehm writes thus of it in his journal : —

“This bird, especially seeking the presence of men, confidingly perches on the
tops of those peculiar, round, wedge-shaped straw huts of the interior of Africa,
‘adorned with eggs of the ostrich, and here called ‘tokahl;’ the dweller in the hut
rejoices in these ‘birds of blessing,’ as he calls them, and protects them from foreign
disturbance; in fact, he offers the same perfect hospitality to every bird which estab-
lishes its nest near his dwelling. In the storks’ nests the chattering host of house-
sparrows build their nests; on the lower bushes, at hardly man’s height, are seen
many old nests of turtle-doves. I sent my servant Aali, in spite of his opposition, up
the trees to fetch me down eggs of the storks. He brought me many, three or four
from each nest. The Arabs raised a cry of murder, that we disturbed their holy birds,
‘simbere, ’ and invoked the curse and punishment of heaven upon Aali and myself,
which brought him quite to rage and despair.”

The following account by Sir Samuel Baker is said to relate to the present species.
The copper-colored ‘fly-catcher, mentioned therein, is thought to be a Lampro-
tornis : —

“During the march over a portion of the country which had been cleared by burn-
ing, we met a remarkably curious hunting-party. A number of the common black and
white storks were hunting for grasshoppers and other insects, but mounted on the
back of each stork was a large copper-colored fly-catcher, which, perched like a rider
on his horse, kept a bright lookout for insects, which, from its elevated position, it
could easily discover upon the ground. I watched them for some time. Whenever
the storks perceived a grasshopper or other winged insect, they chased them on foot;
but if they missed their game the fly-catchers darted from their backs, and then return-
ing to their steeds to look out for another opportunity.”

The ibises and storks have generally been regarded as sacred birds by the people
among which they occur, and as the Arabs in Africa and Asia are averse to killing or
disturbing them, so the European farmer protects the white, red-billed, and red-legged
stork (Ciconia ciconia) which has built its large nest on top of his house; and those
who are not so fortunate as to possess a stork-nest on the roof, fix an old cart-wheel
on the ridge, in order to induce a stork family to construct their bulky nest on the
foundation thus offered. Year after year the same pair return to the same house, after

STORKS. 169

haying passed the winter in the south, and the farmer and his children greet them joy-
fully, as if they were members of the family. The storks, when migrating, travel in
large flocks. Canon Tristram thus describes his experience in Palestine, in 1881, with
the migrating storks: “The stork kept its appointed time, and stalked solemnly over
the plains from the 10th April. I never saw one after the 22d April. Up to that
date there was a constant succession of arrivals from the south and departures for the
north. The most wonderful flight of storks was one which passed over us in the plain
of the upper Jordan on 19th April, steering due north, in the long V-like wedges with
which we are so familiar in the flight of wild geese. Party after party passed, per-
petually changing their leader, and the hindmost of the longest limb frequently cross-
ing over to take the rear of the other limb; but never, countless though their num-
bers were, did they fly in a mass, or in any other order than that of the wedge.”

There remains still to be mentioned two genera of storks in which the structure of
the tail is curiously modified. The genus Dissowra, with the plumage of the head
and neck downy, size small, and with metallic reflections above, inhabits India and
Africa, while Huxenura is South American. The latter is as large as the European
stork, and similarly colored, but with the bill black. Both agree, however, in having
the tail proper strongly bifurcated, the outer tail-feathers being much larger than the
middle pair. This character alone would make these birds unique within their order,
but the tail is still more strangely constructed, for the lower vzil-coverts are stiff and
longer than the tail-feathers themselves! To a superficial observer it appears as if
the tail is white, slightly rounded, and protected at the base by some stiffened black
upper coverts, arranged in an abnormal manner, while the fact is that the tail is black,
and bifureate, with white long wnder tail-coverts! Thus a well-known author in 1877,
while monographing the order, in the species diagnosis, speaks of the upper tail-coverts
being bifureate and raven-black! The mistake is easily discovered by a close inspec-
tion, for the black feathers have the groove on the under side of the shaft, while the
white ones are grooved on the side turned up. Mr. Robert Ridgway, in establishing
the genus Huxenura, seems to have been the first to understand, and clearly describe,
the true nature of these feathers in the American species.

The maguari stork (Huxenura maguari), the only known species, is confined to
South America. Mr. Gibson says that it is very common in Buenos Ayres, and not
entirely confined to the swamps, but is also found on the plains, “ at offal, or stalking
about in search of snakes, frogs, lizards, rats and mice, locusts, and birds’ eggs, —any-
thing and everything, in short.” Of a tame maguari, which was called ‘Byles, the
lawyer, he relates that it seized snakes by the nape of the neck, and passed them
transversely through its bill by a succession of rapid and powerful nips, repeating the
operation two or three times before being satisfied that life was totally extinct.
“ Byles inspired a wholesome respect in all the dogs and cats, but was very peaceable
as arule. One of our men had played some trick on him, however; and the result
was that Byles incontinently ‘went for him’ on every possible occasion, his long legs
covering the ground like those of an ostrich, while he produced a demoniacal row with
his bill. It was amusing to see his victim dodging him all over the place, or some-
times, in desperation, turning on him with a stick; but Byles evaded every blow by
jumping eight feet into the air, coming down on the other side of his enemy, and
there repeating his war-dance; while he always threatened (though these threats were
never fulfilled) to make personal and pointed remarks with his formidable bill.”

In order that the reader may be enabled to distinctly understand the intermediate

170 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

position, and, on the whole, the relationship of the perplexing and curious species
which alone constitutes the family Scopm, we shall here introduce a slight modifica-
tion of the synoptical table which Prof. F. E. Beddard laid before the Zoological
Society of London, in November, 1884 :—

Storks. Scopus. Herons.
Pectoral muscle, Completely double. Not completely double.
Ambiens muscle, Rarely absent. Always absent.
Flexor hallucis, With a special slip to the second toe. With no slip to the
second toe.
Expansor secundar, Present. Absent (except in Cochlearius and Egretta. )
Origin of obtur. int. Oval. Triangular.
Syring, Without intrinsic mus- With intrinsic muscles.
cles.

Anterior rings of Complete. Incomplete, closed by membrane.

bronchi,
Caca, Two. One.
Powder-downs, Absent. Present.
Neck, during flight,

carried, Straight. Curved backwards.

In view of this table one must agree with Prof. Beddard that Scopus is in many
respects an intermediate type between the Ciconiide, on the one hand, and the
Ardeide on the other. As Scopus also has many peculiarities of its own, especially
in the skeleton, we also follow him in separating it as an equivalent family.

The umbrette (S. wnbretta), as the name indicates and the accompanying cut
illustrates, is a sombre-looking bird, dull brownish dusky all over, with a long occipi-
tal crest. The bill is rather peculiar : the culmen is elevated at the base, keeled, and
curved at the tip, which is hooked; the sides are much compressed, and grooved near
the culmen from the base to the tip; the gonys is long and curved upwards, and the
nostrils are partly closed by a membranous scale. All three anterior toes are con-
nected with a membrane at base, as in the storks, but the nail of the middle toe is
pectinated, as in the herons, and the tarsus is reticulate.

The habits of the bird, especially in nesting and breeding, are nearly as remarkable
as its internal structure, and quite as interesting. We first introduce a general
account by Dr. Anton Reichenow, who made its acquaintance in western Africa.

“The umber bird is sociable only in a slight degree. It is usually found single
except at the nest, in wooded districts, watching for fishes with its neck drawn in, or
walking with measured steps in search of frogs which, besides worms, snails, and
insects, constitute its food. Its flight resembles that of the ibises, neck and feet
being carried straight out, the former, however, as I had the opportunity to observe,
slightly curved. Its voice is a harsh quack, similar to that of the spoon-bill. It
roosts in trees or passes the night in its nest, which is a very peculiar structure, com-
pletely over-vaulted, and shaped like an oven, with an entrance from the side. The
interior is said to usually contain several divisions. The diameter of such a nest,
which is built of branches and twigs, is five or six feet. The eggs, three to five in
number, are white, and resemble those of the storks. It seems to be a stationary
resident throughout its range.”

Dr. Kirk says that the Africans look on this bird as unfit for food, and also as
sacred, or as possessing the power of witchcraft; and to injure it is everywhere
regarded as unlucky. He asserts that the colossal nest serves for many years, and
Mr. E. L. Layard describes a place where he counted six or eight within fifty yards,

SHOE-BILL. 171

all exhibiting the same form and structure, and some of them containing at least a large
cartload of sticks. The latter author also informs us that the nests are so solid that
they will bear the weight of a large, heavy man on the domed roof without collapsing.
Such an enormous structure is built by a single pair, and the bird itself is not larger
than our night-herons.

Remarks similar to those which preceded the foregoing family might equally well
apply to the present one, the Batantciprripa. This too is African, and comprises a
single species, which in a somewhat similar way is intermediate between storks and

FiG. 84, — Scopus umbretta, umbrette.

herons. Considerable diversity of opinion exists as to its real affinities. Some authors
make it unconditionally a heron; others regard it as separate; others again unite it
with the umbrette. The anatomy of its soft parts are as yet unknown, so our con-
clusions have to be based upon the skeleton and the external characters. It
appears to us that the shoe-bill (Baleniceps) is intermediate between storks and
herons, but as the umbrette inclines towards the storks, so does the shoe-bill to the
herons. The two birds themselves are also rather closely related, perhaps more so
inter se than with either storks or herons proper. There seems, however, to be

172 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

numerous peculiarities besides, which warrant us in regarding it as the type of a
separate family.

The first feature to attract our attention in this singular bird, of which an excellent
illustration faces this page, is the enormous bill, broad and swollen, justifying the
expression of Prof. Parker that the Baleniceps has “in its strange countenance an
artistic, if not a family likeness to the crocodile.” Most interesting is the groove
along the culmen, and the hooked nail at the end, showing a near approach to similar
features in the umbrette. The tarsi are reticulate, the anterior toes are entirely
deprived of basal membranes, and the middle claw is not pectinate. In the pterylosis it
agrees with the herons in possessing powder-down tracts, of which, however, it
only has one pair. The skull has been considerably modified in consequence of
the exaggerated development of the bill. Otherwise the shoe-bill, in its skeleton,
shows many near affinities to the herons, but the sternal apparatus is rather stork-like,
with some very remarkable peculiarities of its own, as shown by the following, which
is selected from Prof. Parker's monograph: In Baleniceps we encounter a host of
difficulties, both in the breast-bone and also in the fureulum, although its general
shape and proportions agree well with that of the gigantic storks. The costal pro-
cesses are exactly like those of the adjutant, but the episternal process, which is dis-
tinct in the adjutant and long in the typical herons, is not differentiated in Baleni-
ceps. In parrots, woodpeckers, and horn-bills, that emargination is absent which
separates the episternum in most birds from the tip of the sternal keel. The same
thing occurs in the Baleniceps ; so that in this wader, as well as in those arboreal
birds, the keel of the sternum projects some distance in front of the coracoid grooves.
In most of the larger herons and in the storks, the end of the furculum has a gliding,
synovial joint with the tip of the keel of the breast-bone; and this appears to be
persistent even in very old birds. The same thing occurs in gannets and in cormo-
rants. In several other birds the joint becomes obliterated in full age; for instance,
in the cranes. But in the young Baleniceps not only, is all trace of a joint gone, but
the amount of ossification and the actual strength of this part are very strong;
indeed, it is a seven-times-strengthened anchylosis. In some of the storks there are
very small rudiments of a pair of sub-mesial emarginations besides the large lateral
ones. In Baleniceps, however, these notches are nearly half an inch broad, while the
outer notch is nine lines across.

In 1860 Mr. J. Petherick, then English consul for the Sudan, brought to the Zoo-
logical Gardens in London two shoe-bills, at which occasion he gave the following
account of these birds, which at the time caused an intense interest in ornithological
circles : —

“The birds here are seen in clusters of from a pair to perhaps one hundred
together, mostly in the water, and, when disturbed, will fly low over its surface, and
settle at no great distance ; but if frightened or fired at, they rise in a flock high in the
air, and, after hovering and wheeling around, will settle on the highest trees, and as
long as their disturbers are near will not return to the water. Their food principally
is fish and water-snakes, which they have been seen by my men to catch and devour.
They will also feed on the intestines of dead animals, the carcases of which they easily
rip open with the strong hook of the upper bill. The breeding-time of the Bale-
niceps is the rainy season, during the months of July and August, and the spot chosen
is in the reeds or high grass immediately on the water’s edge, or on some small ele-
vated and dry spots entirely surrounded by water.” He continues to tell how he

HERONS. 173

failed in rearing young birds taken from the nest, but that he finally sueceeded in
hatching some eggs under hens. The veracity of Mr. Petherick has been doubted in
regard to an alleged statement by him that the young shoe-vill “runs about in search
of food immediately after it is hatched,’ —a feature which, if true, would be “one
of the most extraordinary facts I have yet met with,” as Mr. A. D. Bartlett puts it.
I can find no such statement in Mr. Petherick’s paper, however; and he only
says that the young ones “ran about the premises of my camp,” but nothing seems to
indicate that they did so immediately after leaving the eggs. On the contrary, he
says a little before that his men had robbed the nest “ of both eggs and young,” there-
by indicating that the young ones remain in the nest for some time at least.

Finally it may be mentioned that observers fail to state whether it has a voice, only
saying that they clatter the bills like storks. he flight is said to be like that of the
marabou, but whether that means that it flies with outstretched neck I do not know.
The eggs are covered with a chalky layer, as are those of the adjutants.

To complete the picture of “the father of the shoe,” as it is named by the Arabs,
we give the following description of the coloration: Bill yellow, blotched with dark
brown; legs blackish ; orbits pale yellow; general color dusky gray, with lighter edg-
ing; head, neck, and breast slaty, — the feathers of the latter with a dark stripe along
the centre; rest of under surface much paler gray. As already stated, there is only
one species known (2. vex), from the region of the White Nile, in eastern Africa,

Enough has been said under the head of the foregoing families as to the characters
of the Arprrp.®, so that, in this place, it will only be necessary to mention that the
family is the most numerous in species of those constituting the order. Herons are
found all over the world, except in the coldest regions, each one of the primary zoo-
geographical divisions having a fair share, though North America is poorest and South
America richest in that respect. We recognize three sub-families,—the bitterns,
which haye two pairs of powder-down patches only; the true herons, which have
three; and the boat-bills, with four pairs. The powder-downs, though present also in
some few birds belonging to other orders, are very characteristic of the herons, and
many are the speculations which have been indulged in to find out their use to the
birds. Some have thought that these patches of dense, clammy, yellowish down may
be the cause of the herons being so singularly free of lice and vermin. It has also
been hinted at that the old tale of a mysterious light emanating from the heron’s
bosom when fishing in the dark might have some foundation of fact, and that the
powder-down might be the seat of such a light-emitting power.

We shall, in the following, give some extracts of a most excellent account by Mr.
W. H. Hudson of the habits of some South American herons; the more since, as he
correctly remarks, there is such a sameness in the way of life of these birds that most
of what can be said about one species will equally well apply to others.

“Two interesting traits of the heron (and they have a necessary connection) are its
tireless watchfulness and its insatiable voracity; for these characters have not, I think,
been exaggerated even by the most sensational of ornithologists. In birds of other
genera, repletion is invariably followed by a period of listless inactivity, during which
no food is taken or required. But the heron digests his food so rapidly that, however
much he devours, he is always ready to gorge again; consequently he is not benefited
by what he eats, and appears in the same state of semi-starvation when food is abun-
dant as in times of scarcity. An old naturalist has suggested as a reason for this that
the heron, from its peculiar manner of taking its prey, requires fair weather to fish ;

174 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

that during spells of bad weather, when it is compelled to suffer the pangs of famine
inactive, it contracts a meagre consumptive habit of body which subsequent plenty
cannot remove. <A pretty theory; but it will not hold water: for in this region spells
of bad weather are brief and infrequent; moreover, all other species that feed at the
same table with the heron, from the little flitting Ceryle to the towering flamingo,
become excessively fat at certain seasons, and are at all times so healthy and vigorous
that, compared with them, the heron is but the ghost of a bird. In no extraneous cir-
cumstances, but in the organization of the bird itself, must be sought the cause of its
anomalous condition. It does not appear to possess the fat-elaborating power; conse-
quently no provision is made for a rainy day, and the misery of the bird consists in its
perpetual, never-satisfied craving for food.

“The heron has but one attitude, — motionless watchfulness; so that, when not
actually on the wing or taking the few desultory steps it occasionally ventures on, and
in whatever situation it may be placed, the level ground, the summit of a tree, or in
confinement, it is seen drawn up, motionless, and apparently apathetic. But when we
remember that this is the bird’s attitude during many hours of the night and day,
when it stands still as a reed in the water; that in such a posture it sees every shy
and swift creature that glances by it, and darts its weapon with unerring aim and
lightning rapidity, and with such force that I have seen one drive its beak quite
through the body of a fish very much too large for the bird to swallow, and cased in
bony armor, it is impossible not to think that it is observant and keenly sensible of
everything going on about it.”

The herons are remarkable for their habits of perching and nesting on trees, not-
withstanding their long neck and legs, and their ‘gressorial’ feet. But the length
and the low position of the hind toe enables them to live an arboreal life, which seems
so incongruous with the rest of their structure. We quote again from Mr. Hudson: “In
the variegated heron (Ardetta involucris) [a bittern inhabiting southern South Amer-
ica], the least of the tribe, the perching faculty probably attains its greatest perfection,
and is combined with locomotion in a unique and wonderful manner. This little
heron frequents beds of reeds growing in rather deep water. Very seldom, and prob-
ably only accidentally, does it visit the land; and only when disturbed does it rise
above the reeds, for its flight, unlike that of its congeners, is of the feeblest; but it
lives exclusively amongst the reeds, that, smooth as a polished pipe-stem, rise verti-
cally from water too deep for the bird to wade in. Yet the heron goes up to the
summit or down to the surface, and moves freely and briskly about amongst them,
and runs in a straight line through them almost as rapidly as a ployer runs over the
bare level ground.

“When driven from its haunt, the bird flies eighty or a hundred yards off, and
drops again amongst the rushes; it is difficult to flush it a second time, but a third
impossible. And a very curious circumstance is that it also seems quite impossible to
find the bird in the spot where it finally settles. This I attributed to the slender
figure it makes, and to the color of the plumage so closely resembling that of the
withering yellow and spotted reeds always to be found amongst the green ones; but
I did not know for many years that the bird possessed ‘a marvellous instinct that made
its peculiar conformation and imitative color far more advantageous than they could
be of themselves.

“One day in November, 1870, when out shooting, I noticed a little heron stealing
off quickly through a bed of rushes, thirty or forty yards from me; he was a foot or

BITTERNS. 175

so above the ground, and went so rapidly that he appeared to glide through the
rushes without touching them. I fired, but afterwards ascertained that in my hurry I
missed my aim. The bird, however, disappeared at the report; and thinking I had
killed him, I went to the spot. It was a small isolated bed of rushes I had seen him
in; the mud below and for some distance round was quite bare and hard, so that it
would have been impossible for the bird to escape without being perceived; and yet,
dead or alive, he was not to be found. After vainly searching and re-searching
through the rushes for a quarter of an hour, I gave over the quest in great disgust
and bewilderment, and, after reloading, was just turning to go, when, behold! there
stood my heron as a reed, not more than eight inches from, and on a level with, my
knees. He was perched, the body erect and the point of the tail touching the reed
grasped by its feet ; the long, slender, tapering neck was held stiff, straight, and verti-
sally; and the head and beak, instead of being carried obliquely, were also pointing
up. There was not, from the feet to the tip of the beak, a perceptible curve or
inequality, but the whole was the figure (the exact counterpart) of a straight tapering
rush; the loose plumage arranged to fill inequalities, the wings pressed into the
hollow sides, made it impossible to see where the body ended and the neck began, or
to distinguish head from neck or beak from head. This was, of course, a front view;
and the entire under surface of the bird was thus displayed, all of a uniform dull
yellow like that of a faded rush. I regarded the bird wonderingly for some time; but
not the least motion did it make. I thought it was wounded or paralyzed with fear,
and, placing my hand on the point of its beak, forced the head down till it touched
the back; when I withdrew my hand, up flew the head, like a steel spring, to its first
position. I repeated the experiment many times with the same result, the very eyes
of the bird appearing all the time rigid and unwinking like those of a creature in a fit.
What wonder that it is so difficult — almost impossible — to discover the bird in such an
attitude! But how happened it that while repeatedly walking round the bird through
the rushes I had not caught sight of the striped back and the broad dark-colored
sides? I asked myself this question, and stepped round to get a side view, when,
mirabile dictu, 1 could still see nothing but the rush-like front of the bird! His
motions on the perch as he turned slowly or quickly round, still keeping the edge of
the blade-like body before me, corresponded so exactly with my own that I almost
doubted that I had not moved at all. No sooner had I seen the finishing part of this
marvellous instinct of self-preservation (this last act making the whole entire), than
such a degree of delight and admiration possessed me as I have never before expe-
rienced during my researches, much as I have conversed with wild animals in the
wilderment, and many and perfect as are the instances of adaptation I have wit-
nessed.”

The uncouth ‘booming’ of the bittern is a mysterious sound of which most
authors only speak with reservation and at second hand. Mudie’s account of the
“savage laughter that sounds as if the voices of a bull and a horse were combined ” is
often quoted, but he describes it as being produced by the flying bird. This “is evi-
dently the offspring of his fine imagination,” as Macgillvray correctly remarks,
adding: “ What a pleasant thing it is to be able to write copiously and with ease on a
subject about which one knows nothing!” But we have better evidence that the
English names of the European Botaurus stellaris, such as ‘mire-drum,’ ‘ bitter-bump,’
‘bog-bumper,’ only faintly express the roaring ability of this nocturnal performer. J.
F. Naumann —a keener and trustworthier observer than whom was never born — asserts

176 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

that he has heard the bellowing and rumbling of the male bittern innumerable times,
often throughout the whole night. He describes the sound as “ a prumb,” the latter
syllable much louder than the former, repeated several times. He sometimes heard,
when he succeeded in getting close enough, a low sound precede the bellow, as if the
surface of the water was beaten with a reed. The roar sounds, close by, nearly as
strong as the bellow of an ox and may be heard, during a still night, at a distance of
from three to four miles, according to circumstances. Naumann himself was never so

net Ay
‘i
“US USD

F1G. 85. — Ardeomega goliath, African giant-heron.

fortunate as to see the bird during the performance. Count Wodzicki, however, —
also known as an excellent observer, — was more successful, and describes it in the fol-
lowing manner: “The artist was standing on both legs, with the body horizontal, and
the bill in the water, and then a rumbling began, the water spouting about all the time.
After a few sounds I heard the ‘ii’ described by Naumann; the bird lifted the
head, threw it backwards, put it again rapidly into the water, producing a roar that
startled me.” The sound of the American bittern (B. lentiginosus) is described as

HERONS. iby f¢

somewhat different. Dr. Bachman, in a letter to Audubon, said that “their hoarse
croakings, as if their throats were filled with water, were heard on every side.”
Others compare it with the sound produced by driving a stake in boggy soil, hence
the name ‘stake-driver.’ Mr. Samuels renders this love-song of the male with chunk-a-
lunk-chunk, quank chunk-a-lunk-chunk, “almost exactly resembling the stroke of a
mallet on a stake.”

FiG. 86. — Herodia’ alba, egret.

The cuts representing species of this family have been selected with the view of
illustrating the chief forms under which the heron type appears. The first one is a
characteristic reproduction of the African giant heron (Ardeomega goliath), the
largest species of the tribe, with the back ashy, head and under side chestnut, and the
ornamental plumes, except the crest of the head, whitish. It is nearly related to the
true and typical herons, the interesting dichromatism of which we have mentioned in

VOL. Iv. — 12

178 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the introduction (p. 7). The second cut shows very well the graceful plumes of the
egrets (//erodias),a group characterized, besides, by slender but elegant proportions
and the dazzling whiteness of the plumage. The species here figured is JZ. alba, of
nearly cosmopolitan range, and represented on our continent by a slight race, ZZ. alba
egretta. Similarly white, but with the ornamental feathers of the head, breast, and
back of a rusty isabella color, is the buff-backed cattle-egret (Bubulcus ibis), which
has already been mentioned as the bird usually shown to the travelers in Egypt as

FiG. 87. — Cochlearius cochlearius, boat-bill,

the sacred ibis of the ancients. In its rather stout build, short neck, short and strong
bill, it approaches the night-herons (ycticorax), which, besides, are easily recognized
by the extremely lengthened linear and compact webbed plumes on the occiput.

Two authors, each holding a leading position as ornithologist in their respective
countries, in 1877 monographed the herons. One of them made the boat-bill ( Cochlea-
rius, or Cancroma) a sub-genus under the genus Vycticorax, the other regarded it as
constituting a separate family, equal in rank to the Ardeidw. It will be seen that the

STEGANOPODES. 179

curious original of the accompanying wood-cut, the South American boat-bill (C.
cochlearius) is the object of considerable diversity of opinion. To all external
appearance, with the exception of the remarkable bill, which is greatly depressed and
dilated laterally, the lateral outline much bowed, the boat-bill is a night-heron, that is,
its general proportions, size, ornamental feathers, and coloration are those which char-
acterize the night-herons. But while it resembles a night-heron, and originally may
have sprung from the same stock, it is modified and specialized in so many ways and
so important features, besides the bill and the consequent alteration of the skull, that
we necessarily must regard Mr. Robert Ridgway’s view as the most justifiable of the
two mentioned above. As specializations additional to the strange conformation of
the beak may be mentioned that the boat-bill has lost both the femoro-caudal muscle
and the feather tufts on the oil gland, and that it has acquired a fourth pair of
powder-down patches. Grading our groups on a somewhat different principle, how-
ever, we include the two species of boat-bills (a new species from Central Americ:
having been described this year by the last-named gentleman as Cochlearius zeledoni)
in the sub-family Cochleariine.

At first sight the Cochlearius seems to represent a pigmy Balzeniceps, between the
legs of which it can stand upright without bending its neck, and the view of their
being closely related has also been urged by different authorities ; but we cannot help
thinking that Professor Reinhardt was right when he opposed Professor W. K. Par-
ker’s opinion to that effect, for, as Reinhardt remarks, even the outward likeness
between the two bills is, on nearer inspection, by no means so great as would appear
at first sight. The bill of Cochlearius is remarkably flattened, and not so much caleu-
lated for great strength as for great roominess; and this is still more increased by the
naked dilatable skin between the branches of the lower jaw, which can be distended
into a complete pouch or bag hanging down as far as the throat.

OrpER X.—STEGANOPODES.

Notwithstanding the shortness of the legs and the ‘Steganopodous’ character of the
toes, — that is, the connection of all four toes by membranes, —the birds of the present
order are unquestionably nearly related to the Herodii. Like these, they are desmo-
gnathous, and lack basipterygoid processes; “but the inner edges of the palatine bones
unite for a much greater distance behind the posterior nasal aperture, and a median
ridge is sent down from the line of junction of the palatines.” Authors have been
equally unanimous in asserting the great homogeneity of the group, until Professor
St. G. Mivart, in 1877, in his valuable memoir, “On the Axial Skeleton of the Pele-
canidw,” raised doubts as to the propriety of referring the tropic-birds and frigate-
birds to the Steganopodes, though it is not quite correct to say that, “ according to him,
the tropic-birds are wrongly placed with this order.’ Here are his own words:
“Besides [Pelecanus, Sula, Phalacrocorax, and Plotus], the two genera Fregata and
Phaéthon ave usually classed with them to contribute to the group of the Steganopodes.
But, from the point of view here adopted (that of the postcranial part of the axial
skeleton only), I have found it impossible to detect characters which seem to me good
and sufficient to unite such Steganopodal groups together, and at the same time divide
them off from other forms.” It appears, however, that in the above-mentioned struc-
ture of the palate and the feet, which Mivart, together with the rest of the cranium
and the extremities, intentionally excluded from his comparison, there are characters

180 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

“good and sufficient to unite the Steganopodal group together, and at the same time
mark it off from all other groups of birds.”

Another thing is, that Mivart has shown that the four supergenera, included in
brackets above, are more intimately related inter se than to the two other ones.
These two, on the other hand, chiefly agree to differ from the former four in negative
points, and hence their exclusion from these does not indicate any particular mutual
intimacy. On the contrary, the tropic-birds and the frigate-birds are as different
between themselves as each of them is from the rest. We therefore propose to dis-
member the order in three superfamilies, Pelecanoidew, Fregatoidew, and Phaéthon-
toidew, an arrangement which is essentially the same as that proposed by Professor
Brandt forty years ago.

This arrangement needs a short explanation. There will be found, later on, a few
more details concerning the peculiar arrangement of the neck vertebrx of the first-
mentioned superfamily. In the last two the neck is normal, and, consequently, they
have not developed as off-shots from the stem of the Pelecanoidee. The extreme
specialization of Fregata in regard to the thigh muscles, A+, can, therefore, not be
derived from the Pelecanoidex, notwithstanding that the myological formula of the
latter, AX+, otherwise would allow of such an interpretation. On the other hand, it
is even more plain that the myological formula, AXY +, of the tropic-bird cannot
directly or indirectly be derived from the pelicans or the frigate bird, nor, indeed,
the latter two from the former. We are, consequently, compelled to assume a
common ancestor with normal arrangement of the cervical vertebra and a myological
formula consisting of, at least, AXY+.

We have occasionally had opportunity to hear people ridicule the stress laid upon
the presence or absence of such a trifling thing as a small muscle of the leg seems to
be. In some instances the presence or absence, considered alone, throws no light upon
the manner in which two forms have developed, and in other cases it seems to the
superficial observer to have no systematic importance, — for instance, when a species has
a certain muscle which is wanting in a closely allied form of the same genus; but
even then it is of considerable interest, since it shows that the latter has developed
out of the former, and not vice versa. The above example, however, derived from
the present order, should convince even the most superficial observer that there are
cases in which these tiny muscular slips play a most important role.

We have discussed the distinctness of the three groups here proposed only on the
basis of a few characters, since want of space prevents us from going further into
details; but in order to show that the differences are rather deep-rooted, it will be suf-
ficient to remind one of the fact that they are apparently not due to direct teleological
causes. In all three groups there are excellent flyers, with long wings; but one of
them also comprises rather short-winged divers. Similarity in habits and manner
of life may account for the external and superficial resemblance between a gannet and
a tropic-bird, but we know of no difference in their habits sufficient to explain the
anatomical diversities alluded to above.

In addition to the characters common to all the members of the group, as given
at the beginning of this chapter, the double condition of the pectoral muscle is here
described in Professor Garrod’s words : —

“The great pectoral muscle is composed of two independent layers, —a superficial
large one, arising from the inferior border of the sternun, its carina, and from the
outer border of the furcula; and a deep one from the upper two thirds of the deeper

TROPIC-BIRDS. 181

part of the carina, superficial to the pectoralis secuwndus, and from the symphysial
half of the outer border of the furcula. The superficial layer is inserted by a broad
linear attachment to the pectoral ridge of the humerus, whilst the deeper layer ends
in a rounded tendon.” According to Garrod, this arrangement is exactly alike in
Plotus, Phaéthon, Pelecanus, Sula, and also in Phalacrocorax, though not so easily
recognized in the latter. The birds of other orders which show a similar condition,
are the American vultures, the storks, and the petrels. ;

Professor Huxley, in enumerating the characters of the ‘ Dysporomorphe,’ as he
styled this order, indicates that the phalanges of the anterior toes decrease in length
from the basal to the penultimate. A re-examination of the group has convinced me
that this is not correct. It will be seen from the figure, further on, of the bones of
the foot of /’regata, that the ratio of the phalanges is quite different, — the basal ones
of the second and third toes being shorter than the next ones. A similar ratio is
also found in the gannets, especially the smaller species, and likewise in the darters.

In common with the frigate-birds, the PHAETHONTOIDEZ have a compara-
tively large head, mounted on a short and thick neck, consisting of fewer and nor-
mally articulated vertebre. The wings are long and pointed, the tail cuneate, with
the two middle feathers extremely lengthened. The feet are rather small, but the
webs are ample; they are totipalmate, like all the members of the order, — that is,
eyen the first toe is connected with the next one by a membrane; and in this particu-
lar group it is short, and turned nearly forwards. Another peculiarity of the hind
toe is that it articulates with the metatarsus considerably above the level of the other
toes, herein differing from the other members of the order. The claw of the third
toe is not pectinated. In having an undivided sheath, without any groove or detached
pieces, the bill resembles that of a tern, but the edges are serrated. Like the
terns, the tropic-birds have pervious nostrils, therein differing considerably from
the other members of the order, in some of which the external openings of the nares
are absolutely closed in the adult birds; but in contradistinction to the terns and gulls,
the tropic-birds are strongly holorhinal. Additional osteological characters will be
mentioned under the descriptions of the other groups, though we may remark here
that the hind border of the breast-bone has two notches, and, consequently, two lateral
processes on each side, somewhat similar to the condition in the gulls.

The myological peculiarities are described thus by Garrod: “Phaéthon possesses
the femoro-caudal (small), the semitendinosus (strong), and the accessory semitendi-
nosus ; the ambiens, the accessory femoro-caudal, and the postacetabular portion of the
tensor fasciee are absent. In this bird the biceps cruris is inserted into the fibula-head
directly, without passing through a loop.”

Pterylographically there is only little difference between the present super-family
and the Pelecanoidex, but the structure of the feathers is different, they being more
elastic and more curved, rather resembling, according to Nitzsch, those of the geese,
The skin is pneumatic, similar to that of the gannets, and each oil-gland has three
openings.

The tropic-birds —an appropriate name for these intertropical birds —are also
called ‘boatswains,’ for the same reason as the jwgers, namely the extremely elongated
middle tail-feathers. In their general aspect, the white color of the body, and the
red or yellow bills, size, etc., they closely imitate the gulls or terns; and many travel-
ers have described their habits as similar to the latter, but the resemblance seems to
be very slight and very superficial. The tropic-birds are very oceanic, and are often

182 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

met with many hundreds of miles from any shore. Their flight is described by Pro-
fessor Newton as not resembling that of any sea-bird with which he is acquainted, its
chief peculiarity consisting in the regular and rather rapid strokes of the wing, with-
out any intermission, as far as he could see; and Mr. C. B. Cory expressly says that it
“ does not at all resemble the long, easy movements of the gulls, but is hurried and
rapid, more resembling that of a duck.” They usually breed in cracks of the cliffs,
on the ledges of rocks, or under overhanging boulders, but build no nest. The single
egg, rather large and of a reddish-brown color, with fine markings, is said to be good
eating, and in some localities large quantities are gathered for food; hence the name

Fia. 88. — Phaéthon ethereus, red-billed tropic-bird,

*ego-bird’ in the Bahamas. Also the long and stiff central tail-feathers are collected,
especially those of Phaéthon rubricauda, in which they are red, in beautiful contrast
to the rest of the plumage. Mr. Edward Newton describes the visit to a breeding-
place of this species on Round Island, a small islet close by Mauritius, as follows:
“ Here the red-tailed tropic-bird breeds in very large numbers. They are the tamest
birds I ever saw, and do not know what fear is. They never attempt to leave their
single egg or nestling at one’s approach, but merely stick out their feathers and scream,
pecking at one’s legs with their beaks. It is the fashion on the island for visitors to
remove the old bird from its egg by a slight shove, and then placing the foot gently

FRIGATE-BIRDS. 183

on its head, to draw out the long tail-feathers. It resents this insult by screaming and
snapping, but never tries to escape by flying or shuffling along the ground; in fact,
like all birds which have their legs placed so far behind, they cannot rise off a flat
surface, but require a drop of a few feet to give them an impetus.” Where rocks are
wanting, however, the tropic-bird breeds in trees. The same gentleman, during a
mountain ascent on one of the Seychelles, observed a yellow-billed tropic-bird (P.
Jlavirostris) enter a hole in the stump of a dead tree. “On returning,” he says, “I
made for it. After a scramble over dead wood and granite boulders, I got to it. The
hole was about fifteen feet from the ground, and my man soon ascended, not, however,
without fears on my part that the rotten old stem would come down with his weight.
Unfortunately there was only a young bird inside it. This I took home and endeay-
ored to rear, but it only lived four days.’ The young is cov-
ered with pure white down, and consequently is very unlike the
downy youngs of the Laridw. The chick, like that of all the
members of the order, is reared in the nest, or rather on the spot
where the egg was hatched, until able to fly.

Only three species are known, —the two above mentioned,
and the red-billed, white-tailed P. @therews, which is the species
represented in our wood-cut.

In Fig. 89 is shown one of the more obvious characters of the
FREGATOIDE, namely, the remarkably short tarsus, the short-
ness and breadth of which is absolutely unique amongst the Euor-
nithes. It is only equalled by the corresponding bone of the pen-
guins, in which, however, the three component metatarsals are
nearly separated, and equally well developed. On the whole, the
foot of the frigate-bird is short, and abnormally developed, for
the “webs” are so deeply excised that they hardly deserve their
name, and the tarsus is feathered to the legs and feathered to the
toes, — a very extraordinary feature in a “ water-bird,” it being, in
fact, the only one among all the birds so designated that exhibits
this character. The abnormal ratio of the phalanges of the middle
toe has already been mentioned. RR aa. Dee fee

The wings are hardly less remarkable, since the cubitus is the knee. 4, tibia ;

© OY mts, tarso-metatarsus.
longer than the upper arm bone by one third of its length; and
as the humerus itself is very long, the stretch of the wings becomes quite excessive in
proportion to the size of the body. In regard to the breast-bone we remark that the
hind border is described as truncate, without any notches or lateral processes. Peculiar
to Fregata is also the fact that there is no interval between the lumbar and caudal ver-
tebrie, as the transverse processes are continuously developed throughout these verte-
bre. As to the pelvis, it may be remarked that the ilia do not meet together medianly in
front of the acetabula at all, as they do in both the other super-families. The caudal
vertebra have very strong transverse processes, and the external tail is long and very
forked. In many other external characters the frigate-birds show affinities to the
cormorants ; for instance, in the shape of the bill, which is composed of several pieces
separated by grooves, ending in a strongly-hooked nail, in the naked gular pouch, and
also in the pectination of the claw of the third toe. The pterylosis approaches that of
the cormorants, but is peculiar on account of the remarkable sparse arrangement of the
contour feathers.

184 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

On the whole, the cormorants seem to be the nearest allies, but, as already noted,
the differences are many and important. In regard to alleged relationship to mem-
bers of other orders, it may suffice to mention that there are peculiarities in the skele-
ton and the myology which have been interpreted as indicating affinity to the petrels,
— theories which only future investigations will be able to decide upon.

Only one family, Frecarm, and one genus, Fregata, consisting of two species,
compose the super-family, which, like the foregoing one, is peculiar to the inter-
tropical seas.

The description of the extreme length of the wings of the ‘man-of-war hawk,’ as
they are often called, indicates the enormous power of flight of the ‘hurricane bird,
another name by which they are known to the sailors, and Audubon’s graphical
account is only one of the many enthusiastic descriptions : —

“The frigate-pelican is possessed of a power of flight which I conceive superior
to that of perhaps any other bird. However swiftly the Cayenne tern, the smaller
gulls, or the jaeger move on wing, it seems a matter of mere sport to it to overtake
any of them. The goshawk, the peregrine, and the gyrfaleon, which I conceive to
be the swiftest of our hawks, are obliged to pursue their victim, should it be a green-
winged teal or passenger-pigeon, at times for half a mile, at the highest pitch of their
speed, before they can secure them. The bird of which I speak comes from on high
with the velocity of a meteor, and on nearing the object of its pursuit, which its keen
eye has spied while fishing at a distance, darts on either side to cut off all retreat, and
with open bill forces it to drop or disgorge the fish which it has just caught. See him
now! Yonder, over the waves, leaps the brilliant dolphin, as he pursues the flying-
fishes, which he expects to seize the moment they drop into the water. The frigate-
bird, who has marked them, closes his wings, dives towards them, and, now ascending,
holds one of the tiny things across his bill. Already fifty yards above the sea, he
spies a porpoise in full chase, launches towards the spot, and in passing seizes the
mullet that has escaped from its dreaded foe. I observed a frigate-pelican that had
forced a Cayenne tern, yet in sight, to drop a fish which the broad-winged warrior
had seized as it fell. This fish was rather large for the tern, and might probably be
about eight inches in length. The frigate-pelican mounted with it across his bill
about a hundred yards, and then, tossing it up, caught it as it fell, but not in the
proper manner. He therefore dropped it, but before it had fallen many yards caught
it again. Still it was not in a good position, the weight of the head, it seemed,
haying prevented the bird from seizing it by that part. A second time the fish was
thrown upward, and now, at last, was received in a convenient position (that is, with
its head downwards), and immediately swallowed.”

Dr. Bryant visited several breeding-places of J. aguila, in the Bahamas. In one
place the nests were on the bare rock, and closely grouped together; in another, they
were built upon the mangroves, while on the Seal Island they were placed on the tops
of prickly-pear. Mr. G. C. Taylor describes his visit to a rookery on a small islet on
the Pacific coast of Honduras as follows : —

“ At a distance the most conspicuous object was a numerous flight of frigate-birds
soaring over the island. As we approached, large white patches, caused by the drop-
pings of the birds, became visible. The whole island was appropriated by the frigate-
birds. Nearly every tree and bush, both high and low, was covered with birds and
their nests. The latter were mostly composed of a few sticks laid crossways, hardly
as much in quantity as in the nest of the ring-dove (Columba palumbus). Each nest

. PELICANS. 185
contained a single egg, about the size of a hen’s-egg, and of a chalky whiteness.
Although the nests were upon low bushes, still they were placed just too high for one
to reach the eggs without climbing. The difficulty was to get the birds off their
nests. Shouting had little or no effect; and even the report of a gun would only
rouse a few, who would frequently settle again on the bushes. I threw some stones
among them, without producing much result, and even tried to poke them off their
seats with my gun; but they merely snapped their beaks at me in retaliation.”

According to Professor Mivart, the PELECANOIDE® differ from the two fore-
going super-families in possessing a greater number of cervical and cervico-dorsal
vertebrae, viz., seventeen to twenty, against fifteen only in the latter. But the most
marked feature is, perhaps, the peculiarity in the eighth or ninth cervical vertebra, by
which it is angularly articulated with the vertebra in front and behind. By this
arrangement is caused the characteristic kink in the neck of these birds, which may be
seen plainly in the wood-cuts representing the darter and the cormorant. Indeed, it
is literally impossible for these birds to carry their neck straight. This angular condi-
tion of the neck is most developed in the darters; in a less marked degree in the
cormorants, and still less so in the gannets and pelicans, though observable in all.

Other distinctive characters of the skeleton as compared with the tropic-birds and
frigate-birds are the presence of one to three distinct sacral vertebrae, the moderate
size of the lateral acetabular fossa, and the presence of fully or nearly completed
hemal arches to some of the vertebre; “but in J’regata and Phaéthon, not only are
there none, but no tendency to form hzemal arches is exhibited.” The hind margin
of the breast-bone has only one lateral process on each side.

We recognize four groups of equal rank, since it seems “difficult to unite together
any two of them to the exclusion of the others.” Of these four families Professor
Mivart thinks that the darters, as the most exceptional and differentiated type, should,
form one end of the series, to be begun with the pelicans, which in some points, at
least, appears the least differentiated and most generalized form.

Accordingly we commence with the PeLecantp#, the pelicans proper, the appear-
ance of which, with the enormous pouch suspended between the branches of the lower
jaw, is so familiar to everybody that we feel at liberty to dispense with a general
description, — the more so, as the accompanying cut will revive in the imagination of
our reader the picture of this grotesque bird if some details should have faded out of
the memory.

In one anatomical feature, at least, the pelicans stand quite isolated, and Huxley
considered it to be so important that upon it he based a subdivision of the order
into two groups, one to contain the pelicans, the other embracing all the other ‘ Dys-
poromorph.’ Here is his description of the peculiarity: “In the Pelecanidw the
inferior edge of the ossified interorbital septum rises rapidly forward, so as to leave a
space at the base of the skull, which is filled by a triangular crest formed by the union
of the greatly developed ascending processes of the palatines.”

One external character only shall here be mentioned; viz., that the tail consists of
twenty-four rather soft rectrices, a feature well worth noting, since in all the other
families are the tail feathers very stiff, and their maximum number sixteen.

Pelicans are found in the New World as well as in the eastern hemisphere, but
they are confined to the tropics, and the warmer portions of the temperate regions,
though a single species or two may breed in more northern localities where the sum-
mers are warm.

186 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Such a species is our North American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos),
formerly confounded with the species figured. A very distinctive and remarkable
feature, however, is the irregular protuberance on the culmen, which is equally devel-
oped in both sexes. Mr. Robert Ridgway, who, in 1868, during a visit to the island
in Pyramid Lake, Nevada, discovered the regular shedding of this horn, or ‘centre-

Fria. 9, — Pelecanus onocrotalus, European white-pelican.

board,’ as it was appropriately called by the inhabitants of the neighborhood, describes
it as follows: “The maxillary exerescence varies greatly both in size and shape.
Frequently it consists of a single piece, nearly as high as long, its vertical outlines
almost parallel, and the upper outline quite regularly convex, the largest specimen seen
being about three inches high by as many in length. More frequently, however, it is
very irregular in shape, usually less elevated, and not infrequently with ragged ante-

PELICANS. 187

rior, or even posterior, continuations. This excrescence, which is assumed gradually
in the spring, reaches its perfect development in the pairing season, and is dropped
before or soon after the young are hatched; simultaneously with the shedding of this
appendage, the nuchal crest falls off, and in its place a patch of short brownish-gray
feathers appears; this disappears with the fall moult, when the occiput is entirely
unadorned, there being neither crest nor colored patch.”

Mr. Ridgway first made a visit to the island in July, 1867. Thousands of pelicans,
slumbering on the beach, were startled, when he landed with his party in the even-
ing, “and as they rose into the air the noise caused by their confusion was so great
that we could scarcely hear one another’s voices. Our blankets were spread upon the
higher ground some distance from the boat, in order to avoid the offensive smell of
the roosting-ground. In the morning, when we awoke, the whole beach about fifty
yards from us was covered with a dense crowd of these gigantic snow-white creatures,
who scarcely heeded us as we arose; as we approached them, however, they pushed
one another awkwardly into the water, or rose heavily and confusedly from the
ground, and, flying some distance out upon the lake, alighted on the water. The
majority of the flock remained upon the water only a short time, when they arose and
flew — divided into battalions — passing over us, each turning its head and looking
down upon us as it went by.” At that time none of the many thousands possessed
the appendage. Mr. Ridgway repaired to the lake again in May of the following
year, when he found the pelicans in pairs, and provided with the “conspicuous promi-
nence on the top of the upper mandible, known among the white people of the neigh-
borhood as the ‘ centre-board, so called from the fancied resemblance to the centre-
board of a sail-boat. This ornament was observable on quite a large proportion of
the birds, and was conspicuous at a considerable distance. At this season both sexes
were highly colored, the naked soft skin of the face and the feet being fiery orange
red, or almost blood-red, instead of pale ashy straw yellow, as in all, both old and
young, in August.

“In viewing the northern shore from an eminence, it was noticed that the narrow
point, which extended some hundred yards or more beyond the main beach, was liter-
ally covered with a dense body of pelicans, apparently merely resting, as many of
them were standing; however, upon proceeding to the spot, it was found that the
ground was covered with nests, upon which the females had been sitting, each one
attended by her mate, who stood by her side. The nests occupied fully one half the
surface, and consisted of mere heaps of gravel and sand raked into a pile about six or
eight inches high, and probably twenty wide on the top, which was only slightly hol-
lowed. In each nest we found one egg, and neyer more.

“Soon the number of birds distinguished by the ‘centre-board’ daily decreased,
while, to account for this phenomenon, a corresponding number of cast-off ones was
found upon the ground. Some of these loosened ornaments had been but recently
dropped, as was plainly shown by their freshness, while others, which had been cast
for some time, were dry and warped by the sun. Towards the last of the month no
birds possessing this excrescence were to be seen, but the appendages themselves
were scattered so numerously over the ground that a bushel could have been gathered
in a short time, though upon our first arrival on the island not one was to be seen.”

Mr. D. G. Elliot describes them in their winter haunts as follows: “On the south-
ern coast of the United States they are very abundant, and I have witnessed them in
winter on the sea-beach of Florida, standing close together in long rows of many hun-

188 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

dreds of individuals, enjoying a siesta after fishing. This species does not plunge
into the water after its prey, as is the custom of its relative, the P. fuscus, but swims
along, beating the surface of the water with its wings, and scooping up great numbers
of fish at once. When raising the bill from the water, the point is held downwards
until all the water has been allowed to run out from the sac, and then the small fish
contained in the skinny bag are devoured at leisure. Sometimes so many fish, or such
large ones, are obtained that the sac hangs down nearly to the ground, it is so very
elastic; while at other times, when empty, it is drawn up between the crura of the
lower mandible. When on the wing, the head is drawn in close to the shoulders, the
webbed feet extended behind. I have never heard them utter any sound as they thus
proceeded.”

About a dozen species or forms of pelicans are known. All of them have the
region between the eye and the bill bare of feathers, except the Australian species, the
speckled pelican (P. conspicillatus), which has only a naked ring round the eyes, like
spectacles (conspicilla), — hence the names.

Next come the gannets or boobies, the Sutm, the typical species of which is
beautifully figured in the accompanying cut. We remark at once that the bill termi-
nates rather pointedly, the ‘nail’ only being slightly bent, and not hooked over the
tip of the lower mandible, as in both pelicans and cormorants. We have already
mentioned the abnormal ratio of the phalanges of the toes. The wings are long and
strong, and the birds are consequently excellent flyers, which secure their prey, consist-
ing of fishes, by plunging headlong into the water, with a velocity that makes the
spray rise several feet. In order to offer the minimum of opposition in the bird’s
diving progress, the sternal apparatus has been peculiarly modified. The breast-bone
itself is unusually long for a bird of this order, being nearly twice as long as it is
broad, and the coracoids, as pointed out by John Flower, are articulated in a direction
nearly parallel with the axis of the breast-bone, and not, as in most birds, at nearly
right angles to it, an arrangement differing widely from that in the cormorants. Like
the other great flyers of the order, the gannets possess a “system of subcutaneous Air-
cells which pervade almost the whole surface of the body, and are capable of volun-
tary inflation or exhaustion,” already referred to while describing a similar peculiarity
in the screamers.

‘Sula’ is an old Norse word, meaning a swallow, and the gannet is, in the Scandina-
vian languages, known as the ‘hay-sula,’ or sea-swallow, probably because of its pow-
erful flight. One of the popular English names of the bird, — the ‘solan goose,’ —
is evidently related, and probably directly derived from the Norse word, and would
consequently mean ‘swallow-goose. Other names bestowed upon these birds are
‘gentleman, or ‘Jan van Gent.’ Macegillivray describes its flight thus: “In launch-
ing from the cliffs, they frequently utter a single plaintive cry, perform a curve having
its concavity upwards, then shake the tail, frequently the whole plumage, draw the
feet backwards, placing them close under the tail on each side, and cover them with
the feathers. In flying, the body, tail, neck, and bill are nearly in a straight line;
the wings extended, and never brought close to the body, and they move by regular
flappings, alternating with regular sailings.” It is interesting to remark that they fly
with outstretched necks, as do the cormorants, thus presenting a similar difference
from the pelicans, as do the storks and ibises from the herons.

The food of the gannet consists chiefly of herrings, and having, like the pelicans,
a very dilatable cesophagus, it is capable of swallowing fish of considerable size.

PELICANS. 189

Being without a gular pouch, it feeds its young by disgorging, and Macgillivray
assures us that it never carries fish to the rock where it breeds, in its bill.

The solan goose breeds in large colonies on small islands and rocks in the North
Atlantic Ocean ; for instance, on the Bass Rock in Scotland, hence the specitic name.
This rookery has been described and depicted so often and elaborately by everybody
who ever wrote of the natural history of this bird, that it would be trivial to repeat

——— = = =

Fic. 91. — Sula bassana, gannet.

it here. Suffice it to say that Macgillivray, in 1831, estimated their number on that
celebrated rock to be about twenty thousand, and that Dr. Cunningham, thirty-one
years afterwards, found no decrease. Much larger is the colony on Gannet Rock, in
the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; for Dr. Bryant, in describing a visit to that island, says:
“Their number on the summit could be very easily and accurately determined by
measuring the surface occupied by them; by a rough computation I made it to be
about fifty thousand pairs, and probably half as many more breed on the remaining

190 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

portion of the rock, and on the Little Bird.” The nest is usually built of grass or
sea-weeds, which the birds tear off with their sharp beaks, and a single egg of a chalky
whiteness, but usually stained and soiled, is deposited, from which is hatched a naked
slaty-blue chick, soon to be covered with snow-white down. The adults are white,
head and neck above washed with buff, bill bluish-gray, feet slate-color with light
green stripes, indicating the course of the tendons; eye yellow. The immature birds
are dusky, speckled all over with white spots.

A few allied species inhabit the tropical seas of the eastern hemisphere, and a
group of smaller, more or less dusky-colored gannets are entirely inter-tropical. In
general habits they differ but little from the typical species, and altogether there are
at present hardly ten different forms. The fact that fossil Sulidw have been found in
France in miocene fresh-water deposits indicates, however, that this family formerly
was wider distributed and richer in forms. A miocene Sia is also known from North
Carolina.

The two following families are probably more closely related inter se than they are
to any of the foregoing. The following are a few characters which the cormorants
and the darters have in common, and in which they differ from pelicans and gannets:
They have twenty vertebre in the neck, against seventeen to eighteen; the ninth
vertebra is the first one pressed back preaxially, and not the eighth; the twentieth to
twenty-fourth vertebra in the cormorants, and the twenty-second to twenty-fifth
vertebr in the darters, are opisthocwlous, while none have that character in the
pelicans and gannets; the latter possess a spinal feather-space, which the former have
not, but these have an occipital style unknown in the others. This occipital style is a
triangular, elongated bone, articulating with the tubercle on the middle of the upper
edge of the occipital bone. The object of this process is to afford surface for the
insertion of “the superficial temporal muscles meeting behind the skull along the
median raphe, which becomes ossified to form the above-mentioned style in the adult
bird.” A myological feature, which is not shared by the two foregoing families, is
that the biceps muscle of the arm sends a fleshy slip to the middle of the patagial
tendon of the tensor patagii longus. Finally may be mentioned the very backward
position of the hind limbs, which force the cormorants and darters to carry their body
more erect than the other members of the order.

The cormorants, PHaLacrocoracip”, are readily distinguished from other Stegan-
opods by the combination of a strongly hooked bill, in shape and structure like that
of the frigate-bird,—long neck, short wings, and rather long, rounded tail. The
head-is often crested, and head and neck frequently adorned with thin filamentous
plumes, which are assumed towards the pairing season, and disappear after the
breeding.

We regard this family as the central one of the order, hence the negative nature
of the characters including the anatomical features, the status of which is best found
by consulting the diagnoses of the other families. Here shall only be mentioned the
peculiarity of the ambiens muscle in passing through the substance of the large tri-
angular patella in a bony canal.

The cormorants form a very homogeneous group of nearly forty existing forms,
and even the tertiary cormorants seem to be very closely allied to the typical species
of the present day, indicating that the group has assumed its peculiarities at quite a
distant period.

On account of this uniformity, nobody who ever saw a cormorant will be in

PELICANS. 191

doubt of the true position of any of the members he might come across, and conse-
quently the accompanying figure, although representing a now probably extinct
species, will serve as well for illustrating the structure of the existing birds. These,
which are distributed all over the globe, except the very Arctic regions, are generally
of a blackish color, with more or less bronzy reflections, and the naked face usually
brightly colored, but some species, especially from the Australian seas, have the whole
under surface white. New Zealand is especially rich in shags, as these birds are also
called, haying not less than thirteen species, amongst these the curiously colored
spotted shag (Phalacrocorax punctatus) peculiar to that colony; it is beautifully
brownish ash above, each feather with a velvety black spot at the end; the under side
is leaden gray; head and neck blackish, with a broad white band along the sides; the
legs are flesh-colored; the eyes, like those of most cormorants, green.

The cormorants are very sociable, and are usually found in great flocks all the year
round. Another feature of their character is their inquisitiveness. I well remember
that afternoon when we left Copper Island, steering for the island where the celebrated
navigator, Bering, died after having been shipwrecked. I stood with Captain Sand-
mann on the deck when we were doubling the northwest cape of the former island.
Flock after flock of violet-green shags (P. pelagicus) came up to the steamer, veered
round, then passed over the vessel behind the smokestack, bending and stretching
their long necks in the utmost curiosity, and, as if they had not seen all they wanted,
some of them would return a second time. This lasted as long as we could see the
cape. As I expressed my surprise at the enormous number, the captain replied that
the sight now was nothing against what it used to be. The shags were, until a few
years previous, so abundant at this point that they served as a conspicuous landmark,
which could be relied upon even in the thickest fog. But one winter the majority of
them died by an epidemic disease. The dead corpses covered the beaches all around
the islands, and the natives were much agitated by the prospect of these birds becom-
ing entirely extinct, since they form their main source of fresh meat during the long
winter. A few survived, however, and their number increased yearly.

This incident recalls the fate that has befallen the spectacled, or Pallas’s, cormo-
rant (P. perspicillatus), which, not more than thirty years ago, inhabited the neigh-
boring Bering Island, while now not a single locality is known where this large and
conspicuous shag may still survive; in fact there are no authentic records of it having
ever been found outside of the island named. Two of the specimens in museums are
said to have come from Sitka, but they were not collected there, and are probably
from Bering Island. When, in 1882~83, I visited that locality, I made all possible
efforts to obtain specimens, but all I could learn of it was that the last one was killed
about a generation ago. We have therefore taken pains to secure a most excellent
illustration of one of the rarest birds in collections. For, while we know of more than
seventy specimens of the great auk, and thirty of the Labrador duck, hardly more
than three spectacled cormorants exist in European museums, and none in this coun-
try. It would be well worth the while to make a thorough search all over the unin-
habited rocky islets of the Aleutian chain, as a few specimens, should they still exist
in some out-of-the-way place, would amply repay the trouble and expense.

That the Chinese fishermen trained cormorants to catch fish for them was known
long ago. Subsequently the stories were more or less discredited. We shall there-
fore transcribe the following authentic account from the ‘Special Catalogue of the
Ningpo Collection in the International Fishery-Exhibition at Berlin :’—

192 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

“Many are the ways used in this province for catching fish of all kinds in the
rivers, lakes, and canals; but none of them are more curious than the cormorant-
fishing, which may be seen everywhere about Ningpo. Certain places are noted for
the excellence of the birds which are bred and trained there ; amongst these we may
name Fénghan and Shaohsing.

“The most celebrated place, however, is a small town called Tanghsichén, fifty i
northwest of Hanechow, the people of which are currently believed to possess a secret
in cormorant-rearing which gives them special success.

“The cormorant’s book name is Lu tzu, and the common name is Yu ying (‘fish-
hawk’), or Yu va (‘fish-crow Mh

“The females lay early from
three to nine eggs, in the first
and eighth moons. The color
of the eges is green, but it is
much covered with white
chalk; their size is that of
ducks’ eggs. The white inside
is slightly green, and the eggs
are never eaten on account of
their strong flavor.

“The egos of the first sea-
son (first moon) are the only
ones retained for hatching.
Towards the beginning of the
second moon they are given
to the hens to hatch, as the
female cormorant is a careless
mother, The young break
their shell after a month’s
incubation. When new-born
they cannot stand on their
legs, and are very sensitive to
cold. They are therefore taken
away from the hen, placed in
baskets filled with cotton wool,
and kept in a warm place,
The eggs of the second season
are not used, the weather be-
ing too cold; they are given away to children and beggars.

FIG, 92. — Phalacrocorax perspicillatus, Pallas’ cormorant.

“The young birds are at first fed with a mixture, in equal parts, of beancurd and
raw eel’s flesh cut fine. If eels are not procurable, the flesh of the et yit ( Ophio-
cephalus niger) is used instead, in the form of small pills. At the end of a month
the down begins to be covered by the larger feathers, and the quantity of fish-flesh
given to them is increased, while that of beancurd is reduced, A second month
elapses, and the young birds, having grown to double their original size, are fit for the
market; a male fetches $1 or $2, and a female half as much.

“The birds are now fed with young fish thrown to them. When they have
attained their full size, a string is tied to one leg, the other end of it being fastened to

=
a

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&

Pandion haliaétus, fish-hawk, osprey.

Cereopsis nove-hollandiw, Cape Barren goose.

*1[N5-Suyay ‘snyozuahun 7 pue “ns paxyouq-youlq Wwois ‘snuwou sn.wo'T

CRANES.

Tetrapteryx virgo, demoiselle ; Balearica pavonina, erowned-crane; Grus grus, common European crane.

PELICANS. 193

the bank of a pond or canal. They are then made to go into the water, the trainer
whistling a peculiar call and using a bamboo to force them. Small fish are thrown to
them, upon which they pounce greedily, as they have been kept on short allowance
of food. They are now called back by a different whistle-call, and forced to obey by
means of the string; as they reach the shore more fish is given them. This teaching
haying been gone through daily for a month, another four or five weeks are spent in
training the birds from a boat; at the end of this period the string is generally dis-
pensed with. When old and well-trained cormorants are made to accompany the
young ones, the time required in training is reduced to one half. Birds not properly
trained after all the trouble thus taken are pronounced stupid and not fit for use.

“The teaching being completed, the cormorants are fed sparingly every morning
with fish. A small ring of hemp is tied around their necks to prevent them swallow-
ing large fish; and they are taken on board the small punt called ‘cormorant-boat,’ to
the number of ten or twelve. They are now as docile as dogs, and sit perched on the
side of the boat until they are sent into the water by a mere whistle from their
master. They dive after fish, and bring their prizes to the boat, firmly held in their
hooked beaks. When a fish is too large for one bird, three or more join their forces
and capture it together. Sometimes the fisherman signals them to dive by striking
the water with along bamboo. If any cormorant is inclined to be disobedient, his
legs are connected by a short piece of string; this forms a loop, by which the bird
may at any moment be brought on board, nolens volens, with a long bamboo hook.

“ After fishing two or three hours the birds are allowed to come on board and rest.
At the end of the day the hempen ring is loosened or removed altogether, and they are
either allowed to fish for themselves, or are fed by the hand of their master. Seizing
the birds one after another by the upper mandible, the fisherman thrusts into their
throats a handful of small fish and a ball of beancurd as large as his fist, the ingurgi-
tation of which he helps with the other hand by stroking the neck of the bird, who
seems to enjoy it, as he promptly returns for a second supply. The entire scene is
most ludicrous. At night the birds are brought home and caged. A cormorant
holds out for five years, at the end of which time these birds lose their feathers and
soon after die. The females, being weaker than the males, only catch small fish,
hence their lower value. Very good birds reach a value of Fls. 10 a pair, a well-
trained male being worth $6 or $7. The females lay when one year old.”

No one who is familiar with the look of the cormorant can fail to appreciate the gen-
eral resemblance of the darter as this bird is depicted in the accompanying cut, not only
in the way it sits up, but also in several features of form and structure. On the whole it
makes the impression of an exaggerated cormorant. The small head is still smaller, the
neck still longer and narrower, the ‘kink’ still more angular, the tail still more elon-
gated. The bill is more after the fashion of a heron than a cormorant, being straight,
compressed, pointed, without nail, lateral groove, but serrated along the cutting edges.
However, were it not for the many important anatomical features, the ANHINGID& would
have to be merged into the family of the cormorants. Having several times alluded to
the osteological characters of the darters, the only thing to be mentioned here is, that
the occipital style in Anhinga (or Plotus) anhinga is considerably smaller than in the
cormorants, while in A. levaillanti the medium raphe separating the temporal muscles
back of the skull is only fibrous, and not ossified, even in adult specimens, thus clearly
indicating the nature and origin of that bone. The muscular arrangement in the neck
is very peculiar on account of the excessive development of the long neck-muscles in

VoL. Iv.—13 *

194 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.
their lower almost inter-thoracie portion, and their sudden concentration into the long
and thin tendons which run up the neck. The kink of the neck makes necessary a
special arrangement to prevent the tendon which runs along the posterior surface of
the neck from breaking away from the vertebral column when the muscle with which
it is associated contracts, and therefore a sling-band is found attached to the ninth
vertebra, through which the tendon passes, acting exactly in the same way as the

well-known sling-band in the knee region.

Fic. 93. — Anhinga levaillanti, African darter.

The alimentary canal of the darters is extremely peculiar, and has partly been
described in the introduction to this volume (p. 15). We may here add that the
African species has two small ceca, while the American has only one. In both the
tongue is obsolete as an independent organ. It is very small in all Steganopods, but
in the others it is free at its anterior extremity, which is not the case in the darters,
the tongue of which is only indicated by a longitudinal groove and a slight transverse
ridge behind,

DARTERS. 195

The darters have only one carotid, though this character is not peculiar; for while
nearly all the other Steganopods have two, there is only one in two species of pelican
and one gannet.

The pterylosis of the darter is very peculiar, and Nitzsch compares it with that of
the penguins, inasmuch as the contour-feathers, which are small and soft, cover the
body nearly uniformly, all spaces being wanting except the lateral spaces of the trunk
and a narrow inferior space.

Four very distinct species, although of very similar appearance, are known, all
from the tropics or warmer temperate regions. One is American, one from India and
southeastern Asia, one from Australia, and one from Africa, a distribution of the same
category as that of the Heliornithidie, Jacanidee, Rostratula, etc.

In the following notes on the habits of the American species, by Dr. Brewer, are
found the explanations of the two common names by which the bird is known,
namely, ‘darter,’ and ‘snake-bird,’ the South American ‘Anhinga? of Portuguese
origin, having the same meaning as the latter. Dr. Brewer says: “It lives principally
upon fish, which it seizes by rapidly darting upon them with its sharply-pointed and
slightly-toothed beak. In this movement its neck, which is very long, is thrust for-
ward with the force of a spring, aided by the muscles that are large and well devel-
oped in the lower and anterior portion of the neck. This is said to be the very first
among fresh-water divers, disappearing beneath the surface with the quickness of
thought, leaving scarcely a ripple on the spot, and reappearing, perhaps, with its head
only above the water for a moment, at a place several hundred yards distant. If hit,
and only wounded, this bird readily bafles all the endeavors of the sportsman to
secure it. When swimming, and unmolested, it is buoyant, and moves with its whole
body above the water; but when in danger it sinks its body, leaving only the head
and neck out of the water, presenting the appearance of a portion of a large snake.”

Dr. Jerdon’s account of the Indian species (A. melanogaster) indicates a cormo-
rant-like feature in the habits of the darter well worth mentioning. He says that they
hunt singly in general, or in scattered parties, but often roost in company, both at
night and in the middle of the day, when numbers may be seen perched on the trees
overhanging some tank or river. After feeding for some time, they perch on the
boughs of a tree, or on a pole or stone, and spread their wings out to dry, as the
cormorants do.

The darters, like the cormorants, lay four eggs, —light blue, with a white chalky
covering; in fact, typical cormorant eggs, and greatly different from the single egg of
the tropic-bird, which seems to resemble the eggs of the petrels.

Lronnarp STEJNEGER.

196 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Orper XI.— OPISTHOCOMI.

The extraordinary bird, Opisthocomus cristatus, which is the sole species of the
family Orisruocomip, has been for a long time a complete puzzle to naturalists, as
it seemed to combine within itself characters of so many groups, that it was almost
impossible to decide where it should be referred, and therefore by various writers it
has been assigned from one family to another, until there appeared to be no resting-
place for it anywhere. Of late years, however, several entire specimens having been
obtained preserved in spirits, its myological and osteological structures have been
thoroughly studied by several fully competent naturalists, and the general verdict is,
that, while allied to several, it belongs to none of the other groups of birds, but consti-
tutes a distinct order and family, of which it is the only known representative. Out-
wardly it is not an ungraceful looking bird; having the upper part of the body dark
brown, with a white streak upon the feathers of the hind part of the neck; head coy-
ered with a long loose crest, and a bare skin around the eye. Two white bars cross
the wing, formed of the tips of the wing coverts. Throat and breast deep fawn, belly
and crissum rufous. Tail long and colored like the back, the feathers tipped with
brownish white. Its pterylosis, or feather-tracts, presents, among others, some of the
following characteristics: There are no lateral neck-spaces. The inferior tract
beginning at the bottom of the neck runs in two broad bands to the keel of the ster-
num, where they narrow, and pass on — growing gradually narrower — to the anus,
terminating in only two feathers in width. The dorsal tract divides between the
shoulders into two limbs, and becomes broader from the caudal pit onwards, enclosing
the oil gland, which has a circlet of feathers at the tip. The skeleton has many pecu-
liarities, among which the following may be mentioned: The antepenultimate dorsal
vertebra is free; the six or seven hindermost cervical vertebre only have very weak
median inferior crests, and the inferior faces of the centra of the dorsal vertebre are
flattened and without crests. The sternum is unique, the lateral edges are nearly
parallel for two thirds its length, then diverge so that it is wider posteriorly than an-
teriorly. The posterior edge has two notches on either side, the outer pair possibly
foramina, the inner pair deeper, but not extending a sixth of the sternum’s length.
The keel is very small and cut away in front, and has a prominent tubercle at its
distal extremity (carina sterni), with a somewhat flattened surface, and separating the
fibres of the pectoral muscles at this point. This expansion of the sternum is covered
by the bare skin, and can be readily seen when the bird is picked. The sternal ribs
are attached to the anterior half of the lateral margin. The coracoids are anchylosed
with the clavicles; the furcula is very short, and it is so completely anchylosed with
the coracoids as to leave no trace of their distinctness; and inferiorly the straight
hypocleidium is completely anchylosed with the manubrium. The pelvis is without
any ilio-pectineal process, and the ilio-sacral fossee are completely roofed by bone.
The skull has no basipterygoid processes ; the vomer is slender and compressed, and
the maxillo-palatines are ill-developed. The transverse hinge of the rostrum lies
behind the lachrymals, which are coalesced with the nasals and form part of the
rostrum. The crop is enormous, occupying all the upper part of the chest, and by its
great size, distorts the fureula and sternum, and entirely conceals the superior and
anterior halves of the pectoral muscles, and, when it is removed, the upper halves of
the pectorals are seen to form a deep cavity in which the crop is placed. The above

GALLINZ:. 197

somewhat technical description is rendered necessary from the very peculiar position
this species assumes among birds, and although it may be deemed ‘dry reading’ it may
be permitted in view of the explanation needed why the hoatzin, as it is called,
should constitute an order by itself. Not much is known of the economy and habits
of this species. It is a native of Guiana and the country watered by the Amazon. It
abounds on the low shores of that river, and about the lakes, goes in small flocks of
from ten to twenty individuals, and feeds on the leaves of the Arwm arboreum, which
give to it a very disagreeable odor. Its flight is slow and heavy, and it is not seen on
the ground nor on high trees, but remains upon the branches of the arum. The
nest is composed of sticks loosely laid together, and placed on low bushes near water.

On April 14, 1884, Mr. E. A. Brigham, in a paper read before the Chicago Academy
of Sciences, gave an account of a remarkable discovery made by him regarding this
curious bird, which would seem to show that, for a period after issuing from the ege,
it might be considered as almost belonging to the quadrupeds. The following ex-
tract contains the pith of his announcement. ‘ While making embryological studies in
the interior of the great island of Marajo, on the small river Anabiju, I discovered
the quadruped bird. After examining many specimens of various ages, I found that
from what corresponds to about the embryonic state of development of the common
fowl at the tenth day of incubation, the fore feet showed their characters unmistak-
ably throughout their egg-development, and to a period of several days after hatching
the fore feet, toes, and claws held their characters as such, as unmistakably as those
parts of the posterior members. Later a progressive modification manifested itself by
reducing the digits, exfoliating the claws, and developing these anterior members into
those characteristic of a bird. There is, among the higher vertebrate animals so far
as I know, no other example of post-natal metamorphosis in such fundamental organs
to anything like this extent. The law enunciated by Von Baer—that the phyloge-
netic development is represented in the ontogenetic —has a wide expression here.
An important ancestral feature is persistent beyond the egg or parental development.
The animal, progressing in its embryonic course, passes into its reptilian ancestral type,
and before its evolution has carried it through this, its reptilian phase, it emerges
from the egg. Thus from an egg laid by a two-footed, two-winged bird hatches a
quadruped animal. For several days after hatching it retains its quadruped charac-
acter, then, in the open air and sunlight, one pair of legs evolves into wings. Front
legs are purposeless in a bird.” A confirmation of these statements is greatly to be
desired.

OrpER XII.— GALLINZE.

This great division of the class Aves, sometimes designated as Rasores, from the
habit indulged in by its members of scratching the earth when searching for food, is
composed of two sub-orders and four families, viz., Tetraonide, Phasianidee, Megapodi-
dx, and Cracide, containing among them between three and four hundred species.
The sub-orders are called respectively the Alectoropodous Gallinz, those having feet
like a fowl, containing the first two families, and the Peristeropodous Gallinw, or
those with feet like a pigeon, which includes the last two families. The two sub-
orders compose the group known to naturalists as Alectoromorphie.

The order Galline contains within it those species of birds which are most impor-
tant and valuable to mankind, affording food to multitudes of people, and which are

198 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the source of all the domesticated poultry throughout the world. As a general rule,
they are birds with stout legs and feet, rather small heads with curved bills, the nostrils
placed in a membrane covered by a scale, moderately long necks, and heavy bodies
with short rounded wings. ‘he tarsi of the males are frequently armed with one or
more spurs, and in some species this weapon is present on the legs of the female also.
In the pigeon-footed families the hind toe, or hallux, is on the same plane as the three
others, which are directed forwards ; but the fowl-footed have the hallux usually very
small and raised, sometimes barely touching the ground. The sternum has a double
bifurcation on each side, the fissures wide and deep, and provides but little space for
the attachment of the pectoral muscles. These last are, however, well developed,
giving the plump appearance characteristic of these birds. The tail is frequently
short, of various shapes, but in the Phasianids it is sometimes lengthened to an extra-
ordinary degree. The flight is labored, but rapid, and not often extended to any con-
siderable distance. The esophagus is dilated and forms what is called the crop,
which receives and moistens the food. The gizzard is very strong, having a thick and
hard interior wall, and, in order to assist in grinding the food, the birds are accustomed
to swallow small stones, ete. The cwea are frequently highly developed. The spe-
cies of this order lay numerous eggs, and the young are at first covered with down,
and are able to run and feed from the moment of birth.

Sup-OrpEer JI.— GALLINA ALECTOROPODES.

The family TeTRAoNID& is composed of the quails, partridges, and grouse, and is
represented in almost every part of the world. It has been divided by naturalists
into various sub-families, but three would seem to be sufficient for all the species.
These are Perdicin, Odontophorinx, and Tetraoninw. They differ very considerably
from each other. The first is a very extensive group, comprising among its species
the smallest met with among the Gallinw. It is exclusively an Old World group, no
representative having been obtained in the western hemisphere. The Odontophorine,
on the other hand, are only found in the New World, and are known as the American
partridges, differing from those of the eastern hemisphere, among other characters, by
haying the mandible notched on either side. The members of the third sub-family,
Tetraoning, are inhabitants of both hemispheres, one species being found through the
Arctic regions of the world. They are large birds, distinguished from the rest of
the family by having the legs and feet densely feathered; in one genus, however,
(Bonasa) the feathers extend only to the knee. They have heavy, plump bodies, with
short tails, and generally a plumage of contrasting colors suitable for concealing them
among the herbage in which they dwell.

Of the Perdicine, the genus Coturinz has representatives in most of the countries
of the Old World, the familiar C. communis, or migratory-quail, being its best known
species. This little bird travels in great bodies, mainly at night, from its winter
homes, generally in the southern portions of its habitats, to the localities selected for
its breeding-places, returning again, as the seasons revolve, to warmer climes. It feeds
mainly on grass, seeds, grain, and insects of various kinds, and is rarely seen save
when flushed by man or dog. During its migrations, great bodies of water, like the
Mediterranean, are crossed, and sometimes, after such long flights, the birds become
so exhausted as to permit themselves to be picked up by the hand on first reaching

QUAILS. 199

the land. The female lays from eight to twelve eggs. About six species are gener-
ally included by ornithologists in this genus; one, C. delegorguei, from Africa;
C. coromandelica, from India, known as the rain-quail; (C. pectoralis, from Australia;
C. nove-zelandia, as its name implies, from New Zealand; C’. eaineana, from China,
and C. communis. They are all similar in size and appearance, and a description of
the habits of one species would practically answer for all.

Australia possesses a genus of quails peculiar to itself, — Synoieus, — containing
four species. They vary in length from six and one half to eight and one half inches;
of a dark-brown color on the back, transversely barred with gray, black, and chestnut;
the under surface grayish-buff or gray, with black zig-zag markings. These, like the
species of quail generally, migrate but slightly, if at all, and keep in coveys, flying but
a short distance after being flushed.

Fig. 94.— Rollulus roulroul, red-crested wood-quails.

The bush-quails are contained in the genera Perdicula, Ophrysia, and Microperdix,
represented by about six species. They are distributed throughout various portions
of India in the thick jungles and bushy tracts, keeping in coveys usually of from six
to ten individuals, lie very close, and fly but a short distance when disturbed, and live
from the level of the sea to eight thousand feet of elevation. One species, Perdicula
raaltenii, appears to be restricted to the island of Timor.

The painted-quails are a group of very small birds (one species, 4. minima, from
Celebes, being the smallest game-bird known), and have been gathered together into
a separate genus, — Eixcalfactoria. They are very pretty birds, the sexes being quite
dissimilar in plumage, and are residents of various parts of India, Malay Peninsula,
Ceylon, China, Celebes, Philippines, Australia, New Guinea, the Duke of York Islands,
and west Africa. The best known, 2. chinensis, the blue-breasted quail, is an

200 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

extremely pretty species, the male being olive-brown above, barred with black; fore-
head, lores, cheeks, ear-coverts, and breast dark purple-gray; chin and throat black,
enclosing from the base of the mandible a white triangular patch; lower part of throat
white edged with black; middle of abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts deep chest-
nut; bill black, legs bright yellow, length about five inches. The female has a
whitish chin with a rufous throat, the upper plumage generally dark brown and black
with buff stripes on each feather, lower parts buff, with black cross-bars on the flanks.
Hume says in India they are found singly or in pairs, and not in coveys, except just
after the breeding season, when the old birds and their young are together. Swampy
grass lands or meadows are their chief haunts; they fly swiftly and straight for about
seventy yards, and not more than a foot above the tops of the grass. They feed on
grass seeds, lay about six olive brown eggs speckled with reddish brown, and probably
breed twice a year.

The genus Rolluus contains but two species, inhabiting Malacca, Sumatra, and
Borneo, one, 2. roulroul, penetrating into southern Tenasserim. Some ornithologists
divide the species into distinct genera, placing 2. niger in the genus Melanoperdiz.
The red-crested wood-quail, as the 2. rowlroul is called, is a very beautiful species
with a rich green plumage, and a long, red, hairy crest upon the back part of the head
It is a forest-loving bird, ranging from the sea-level to a height of about four thousand
feet, goes in small flocks of seven or eight individuals, lives on seeds, berries, insects,
ete., and rarely comes into the open country. It is quick in its movements, and has a
soft, mellow whistle. The female has a lighter colored plumage, and is without the
red crest. This species is noted for having the hind claw almost obsolete. A very
beautiful bird allied to the last and called aematortyx sanguiniceps, is also a native
of Borneo. The general color is dark brown, with the top of the head, crest, and face
crimson, throat, neck, and breast deep chestnut, under tail-coverts black, lengthened
ones crimson.

With the genus Perdix commences the true partridges, of which P. cinerea, the
gray-partridge of Europe, is the most familiarly known. Five species may be included
in Perdix, viz.. the one mentioned, P. barbata of eastern Asia, P. robusta, Altai
mountains, P. hodgsonia, Thibet (sometimes placed in the genus Sacfa), and P. mada-
gascariensis, of Madagascar, by some placed in the genus Magaroperdizx. These are
all fine large birds, affording sport and food to many people. The sexes are very
much alike in plumage. The gray-partridge would be a valuable addition to the game
birds of any land, The female lays from eight to twenty-four eggs, the flesh is plump
and well flavored, and the bird is not of a particularly delicate constitution. Some-
times, when food is scarce, this species will leave a district it has been frequenting, and
pack in flocks of a hundred or more, as the pinnated grouse are in the habit of doing,
and then the birds are very wild and difficult of approach. The flight of the gray
partridge is swift and sometimes protracted, and it rises with a loud whirring sound.
The Thibetan partridge, P. hodgsoniw, apparently is accustomed to live at great eleya-
tions (it having been met with at a height varying from sixteen to eighteen thousand
feet), on desolate ground having no grass nor bushes, but only patches of mossy herb-
age. Yet at this great height a nest and eggs were discovered; the nest a mere
indentation in the ground, the eggs pale drab in color, tinged with reddish brown at
the ends, and ten to fifteen in number. Two very pretty species of a general rich
buff-brown color, with gray crowns and cheeks; forehead and line over the eye black,
and breasts vinous fawn, have been placed in the genus Ammoperdix. They frequent

PARTRIDGES. 201

“=

rocky ground and ravines, are very gentle, and feed on seeds and such herbage as
grows in the localities they inhabit. One species, A. bonhami, is found in India,
Afghanistan, Persia, and Beluchistan, while the other, A. hey, is a native of western
Arabia, the Sinaitic Peninsula, Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine. A partridge from west
Africa, of a general earthen-brown plumage, closely allied to the birds of the genera
Perdiz and Ammoperdix, has been separated by Swainson as a sub-genus, and called
Ptilopachus ventralis. The two lateral toes are nearly equal in length; the tail is
much developed, and the nostrils occupy almost one half the length of the mandible.
The shafts of the feathers on the back and rump are thickened as in the pigeons.
The single species is the only representative of the genus.

F1G. 95.— Caccabis rubra, red-legged partridge.

Thirteen or fourteen species are included in the genus Adorophila, or hill-par-
tridges, the greater portion (nine) being found in India and Burmah and the Malay
Peninsula, two are found in Java, one in Sumatra, one in the island of Formosa, and
one in the Philippines. They are forest-loving birds, live in mountainous districts in
the densest thickets, go in coveys, and have a whistling call. The sexes differ slightly
in plumage. The Formosan bird has been separated under the generic title, Oreo-
perdizx, and has a bare, bright-red throat in the breeding season.

The red-legged partridges, together with the species of Ammoperdix, have been con-
sidered by some writers as worthy of constituting a sub-family of the Perdicide, but
while perhaps not quite entitled to that distinction, they do nevertheless form a well-
marked group. The species have a wide range and are spread over temperate Europe,

202 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

western and central Asia, Madeira, the Canary Islands, and Agores. The genus Cac-
cabis contains about six species, with an unmottled plumage, with bright-colored
bands on the flanks, and a general ashy and buff coloring, admirably adapted to con-
ceal the birds in the rocky grounds they frequent. As a rule they are not very good
eating, being dry and not very tender, although the young, when kept for a time and
properly cooked, are said to be very good. They are extremely pugnacious, and it is
stated that in former ages they were kept tame for fighting, as game-cocks were, and
that the Emperor Alexander Severus was very fond of this sport. They are hardy
birds, braving extremes of heat and cold, and in Persia are found in the Elburz moun-
tains, at 10,000 feet elevation. They do not lie well to the dog, but run swiftly, and
take flight when out of range of the gun, and consequently are not favorites with sports-
men. In fact, as game-birds, they have little to recommend them beside their hand-
some appearance, The nest is merely a hole scratched in the ground, and the number
of eggs varies from nine to as many as twenty-four. The red-legs are noisy birds,
calling mostly in the morning and evening; and when a covey is scattered, each indi-
vidual, says Hume, proclaims his own and inquires his fellows’ whereabouts. The
tone varies. First he says, “I’m here,” then he asks “ Who’s dead?” and when he
is informed of the decease of some favorite relative, or perhaps his eldest son, he re-
sponds, “Oh lor! oh lor!” in quite a mournful tone. The various species feed on
grain, seeds, insects, caterpillars, ete., and also on tender shoots.

The splendid birds known by the trivial name of snow-cocks or snow-pheasants,
are dwellers, as their name implies, of high elevations on the gigantic mountains of the
Himmalehs, and of the Altai, also in the Caucasus range. They are met with in Asia
Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan, and Persia, while one species, the S. thibetanus, is found
not only in Thibet proper, but also in the mountains of western China. They range
at from 6 to 18,000 feet in elevation, descending to the lower heights in winter after
heavy snow. They are large birds and extremely shy, go in packs occasionally of
twenty to thirty individuals, though five to ten is the more usual number. In summer
generally but a pair are found together. When feeding, a sentinel is always posted
on some commanding spot to give notice of any danger, and as they resort to the
rocks and never enter forest or long grass, it is exceedingly difficult to approach them
or take them unawares. They breed early in the spring, and the young are very skil-
ful in hiding among the stones. The number of eggs laid is from six to nine, of pale
olive color, with light or dark red spots. The nests are hollows scraped in the earth,
and lined with grass and a few feathers or green fir-needles. The sexes differ slightly
in plumage, mainly about the head and breast. In size they vary from a length of
nineteen to twenty-nine inches, and in weight from three to six and a half pounds.
The genus Lerwa contains only one species, the Z. nivicola, known as the snow-
partridge, which ranges for a thousand miles along the Himmalehs, and into Thibet
and western.China. In winter it descends to an elevation of 7,000 feet, its summer
abodes being at from 10,000 to 14,000. In habits and haunts this bird much resembles
the snow-cocks, but it prefers a mossy vegetation to that of a grassy character. It is
generally very tame and will permit one to approach quite near, when it utters a
harsh whistle, but it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish the bird from its surround-
ings if it remains motionless. It breeds near the snow-line, and the eggs are stated to
be large, dull white and freckled all over with reddish brown. It is a handsome bird,
the whole plumage being minutely barred with black or buffy white, and tinged with
chestnut on the side of the neck. The chin is grayish, throat, breast, and upper part

FRANCOLINS. 203

of abdomen deep chestnut red, with dashes of buff on the flanks. Tail dusky, with
bars speckled with gray and rufous. The male has short spurs, and weighs from six-
teen to twenty-two ounces.

The bamboo-partridges, so-called from their habit of haunting dense grass or
bamboo jingle, are four in number, and compose the genus Bambusicola. They
differ from all the other species of this family which have thus far preceded them,
save LZ. nivicola, by the presence of sharp spurs on the tarsi of the males. They are
rather large birds, of a reddish-brown plumage. Two species are found in China, one
in Burma and one in Borneo. Allied to these is Caloperdix oculens, a very handsome
gamey-looking partridge, the male not infrequently having double spurs. It is a rare
species, and but little is known of its habits, for its chosen abode is the dense and
primeval forests of the Malay Peninsula, through which wild elephants and buffaloes
make the only paths. The head, neck, and under parts are bright rufous, flanks barred
with black. Mantle black, feathers edged with white, back and upper tail-coverts
black, with V-shaped marks of bright rufous. Wings reddish-brown or grayish,
each feather with a black spot near the tip. Its length is about eleven inches, its
weight half a pound.

The francolins constitute a very extensive group, having rather lengthened bills and
tails, and generally a rich plumage of contrasted colors. The rather restricted genus
Francolinus (of which /’. vulgaris is the most familiar species) is Asiatic, and con-
tains but three species. At one time an inhabitant of Europe, the common francolin
is now quite extinct on that continent, but is still found on the island of Cyprus; but
in Asia Minor, Palestine, and throughout northern India, Armenia, Persia, and Belu-
chistan it is quite plentiful. The male is a bird of very handsome plumage, with
the sides of: head, cheeks, throat, and lower parts deep black; crown brown with
black spots; a broad chestnut collar round the neck. Breast and flanks spotted with
white, and the abdomen, which is rufous, is barred with the same. A line of white
under the eye. Back and wing-coverts blackish-brown; rump and upper tail-coverts
black barred with white; under tail-coverts chestnut tipped with white; tail black
and broadly barred with white; legs reddish orange, and have a short blunt spur.
This is a favorite game-bird with sportsmen, is strong on the wing, flying very steadily,
lies very closely to a dog, perhaps too closely, and its flesh is very fair food. It fre-
quents meadows, cultivated fields, patches of herbage, and jungle. When flushed, it
springs perpendicularly into the air to the height of perhaps three feet, before taking
its line of flight. They do not go in coveys, but keep in pairs, although many pairs
may be in close proximity to each other, and are monogamous. At earliest dawn,
wherever these birds are present, their clear call rings out on the morning air with
a “Be quick, pay your debts,” sort of a exclamation, and this habit frequently leads to
the discovery of their place of refuge, and to their ultimate destruction. The usual
number of eggs to a nest is from six to ten, of a dull greenish-white color, and the
nest is generally a depression in the ground at the foot of some grassy tuft, and par-
tially lined with roots and grasses. The common francolin varies greatly in size
among individuals, those from Asia Minor heing generally the largest. Like many
other species of game-birds, old or barren hens sometimes assume the male plumage,
and albinos are not uncommon. The other species of this genus are J. pictus of
central and southern India, and 7”. chinensis of Pegu, India, and southern China.

The remaining portion of the group of francolins are African, and about thirty in
number. They have been divided into four genera or sub-genera— Clamator, Sclerop-

204 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

tera, Pternistes, and Chetopus. They are large birds, sometimes called pheasants, and
are very abundant in different portions of the ‘ Dark Continent.’ In habits they resemble
the common francolin, prefer running to flying, and feed during the morning and
evening on grain, insects, and bulbs, which last they dig up with their powerful bills.
The males and old females are armed with spurs on the tarsi, and, when disturbed, the
species will frequently take refuge in trees, where they also roost. They appear at
times to be migratory, caused possibly by the abundance or scarcity of food or water
in certain localities. They are very noisy birds, and in one species, S. adspersa, the
voice can be heard at a great distance, the notes uttered resembling a succession of
hysterical laughs.

A genus of gray partridges, styled Ortygornis, containing but two species, is found
in India and Ceylon. They are birds of the lowlands, one of the species, O. gularis,
having been met with as high as four thousand feet, and O. pondicerianus at five
thousand feet, which in that land of gigantic peaks is but the summit of a hill. The
individual of the last-named species was deemed, however, but a straggler, and was
evidently above his range. The flesh is said to be hard, dry, and insipid, hardly worth
eating, cook it as you may. These species are extremely pugnacious, and are kept by
the natives for fighting, as partridge combats are one of their chief amusements. The
O. guaris, whose trivial name is the swamp-partridge, affects, as its name implies,
marshy lands and banks of rivers, jungle, thickets, and reed-beds, but always near water.
When flushed, it rises with a loud whirr, and a shrill cackle, but does not fly far, and
if not bagged can only with great difficulty be forced to take wing again. They are
wary and difficult of approach, one of their number being generally posted as a sentinel
on the top of a bush, and they keep together in small parties or in pairs. The males are
heavily spurred, sometimes having two spurs on each leg, and it is stated that every
one examined will be marked with scars from wounds obtained in fighting. The nest
is placed on the ground, and the eggs number about five. The O. pondicerianus
breeds twice a year, laying seven to nine white eggs tinged more or less in depth with
a light coffee-color. These birds weigh from nine to twelve ounces and are from
eleven to fifteen inches in length.

A rather curious partridge with a very long bill is found in Malacca, Sumatra, and
Borneo, and is known to naturalists as Rhizothera longirostris. It is about a foot in
length, and the bill is as powerful as that of a peacock. It has the throat, sides of
the head, upper part of neck, belly, and flanks rufous yellow; top of head and back
chestnut brown with large black spots; lower part of neck and breast leaden gray ;
rump and upper tail-coverts are rufous, crossed with fine zigzag lines of a darker hue,
and in the centre and near the end of each feather is a spot of yellowish ochre. A
bare red skin encircles the eye. The primaries are rufous, barred with brown. The
tarsi are armed with short heavy spurs. The female resembles the male, except that
her breast is ferruginous instead of gray, and she has no spurs.

The last genus of the Perdicine is Galloperdix, consisting of three species ; two,
G. spadiceus and G. lemulatus, being peculiar to India, and the third, G. zeylonensis,
only found in Ceylon. They are rather peculiar birds, resembling in some of their
characters the true jungle-fowl of the genus Gallus, having nude skin around the
eyes, but without comb or wattles. The sexes are dissimilar, and both are armed with
spurs, the male sometimes having as many as three on one leg, occasionally two on
one leg and one on the other, the female also at times possessing the same number of
weapons. They dwell entirely in woods, and in localities affording dense cover, such

PARTRIDGES. 205

as jungle-clad and rocky hills, straying rarely to the alluvial plains, and never re-
maining in open districts. They ascend the sides of wooded hills as high as five
thousand to seven thousand feet, are always extremely shy and wary, most difficult to
flush, preferring to effect their escape by running, as they are very swift of foot. Ex-
cept during the breeding season they go in small flocks of from five to ten, are exceed-
ingly pugnacious in disposition, and fight with head depressed like common fowls,
The hen lays from four to ten coffee-colored eggs, and breeds more than once each
year. ‘This species has a kind of cackling ery, most often heard when a covey has

Vy
Tp gaz

Fia. 96.— Lophortyx californicus, California quail.

been broken up and its members are desirous of getting together again. They have a
very handsome plumage, but their flesh is considered dry and rather insipid, unless
perhaps when the bird is very young.

The American partridges are kept distinct from those of the Old World in the
sub-family Odontophorinz, chiefly from having a bidentation at the end of the man-
dible, although in some of the species this is hardly apparent. The group consists of
nine genera with about forty-five species, some of which are very graceful birds with
a beautiful plumage.

Two genera, Dendrortyx and Odontophorus, contain species of large size, distributed
throughout Central and South America. They are forest-loving birds, and go in
flocks of six or eight. Some species frequent the ravines of voleanoes in Central

206 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

America, near their tops, in the sunny spots made by fallen trees, and when fright-
ened run swiftly, only taking flight when approached quite suddenly. In Brazil,
Odontophorus dentatus is said to resemble the hazel-grouse of Europe in its mode of
life, never appearing in the open country, but always remaining in the thick woods,
and feeds on fruits, berries, insects, etc. In the morning and evening it is accustomed
to perch on a branch, several individuals in a line, and the male utters a loud ery
which reverberates to a great distance. It nests on the ground and lays from ten to
fifteen pure white eggs. When flushed, the birds fly to the trees, where, amid the
dense foliage, it is very difficult to perceive them. The flesh is palatable, and the
sexes, like all the species of the genus, differ but little in the color of their plumage.

Two beautiful species constitute the genus Lophortyx, L. californicus and L. gam-
belii. They bear some resemblance to each other, both having black throats, and
sides of the head marked with white, blue breasts, and a black crest composed of from
five to ten feathers springing from one spot. These are enlarged at the top and curl
over forwards. The webs bend backward, and fold over the feather succeeding, and all
form one bunch, usually drooping forward, but freely movable. The hen’s crest is
shorter, and brownish in hue. The species differ greatly in the coloring of the lower
parts. The Z. gambelii has the upper part of the abdomen buff, lower part black, while
the ZL. californica has the upper part golden brown, rest chestnut, each feather
edged with black. This latter species is found in Washington Territory and Cali-
fornia, while the Z. gambelii is a native of Arizona, New Mexico, and northern
Mexico.

The mountain-quail, or plumed-partridge, as the Oreortyx pictus is usually called,
is a large and very handsome bird. Its habitat is limited, being exclusively the
mountain ranges of California and Oregon. The head is ornamented by two long
slender feathers arching towards the occiput, the throat is chestnut, neck and breast
dark gray, sides and abdomen deep chestnut; the feathers of the former edged with
white, those of the latter banded alternately with black and white. It utters a faint
chirp when alarmed, associates in flocks of fifteen or twenty, lives on seeds and insects,
and the flesh is excellent. Callipepla squamata, the blue-quail of Arizona and Mex-
ico, has a soft, full crest of short feathers, and differs from all the group of so-called
quails in America by presenting little or no variation in the plumage of the sexes. It
is especially a terrestrial bird, rarely taking refuge in trees or bashes unless very hard
pressed, but runs over even difficult ground with much swiftness. Like all quail, the
hen lays a large number of eggs, and their color in this species is buffy white, thickly
dotted with light-brown specks. Hupsychortyx is the last genus containing the
plumed or crested-partridges. The species are natives of Mexico, Guatemala and
northern South America, and are all provided with short, soft crests, and are very
abundant in the localities they frequent. Three very peculiarly appearing species are
contained in the genus Cyrtonyx, their heads being striped with black and white after
the manner of a clown in the cireus. They dwell in Mexico, one species only, C. mas-
senda, extending its range north into Arizona. They are stated to be very gentle in
their habits, exhibiting but little fear of man, go in small coveys, and live chiefly amid
wild, rocky and barren tracts.

Ortyx virginianus, our familiar “ Bob White,” with his relatives, 0. floridanus
of Florida and O. teranus of Texas, is most widely and generally known. It is the
quail of the northern and the partridge of the southern United States, and is widely
disseminated over the eastern states and portions of Canada. It is so well known, both

GROUSE. 207

as to its appearance and habits, that it will be unnecessary to devote any space to it
here. Cuba possesses a species very similar in plumage, O. cubensis, differing mainly
in the greater extent of black upon the head and upper part of breast. A beautiful
species, O. nigrogularis, is a native of Honduras and Yucatan, having a black throat,
and a white breast and abdomen, the feathers of these being bordered with black.
The remaining species of the genus, three or four in number, are found in Mexico, one
only O. leylandi, being a native of Honduras and Costa Rica.

Fia. 97.— Lagopus albus, ptarmigan, in summer plumage.

The grouse comprise the sub-family Tetraonine of the Perdicide, and are distin-
guished from the quails and partridges by having the nostrils, legs, and feet more or
less completely feathered, by a bare skin over the eye, a pectination on the sides of
the toes, and in some species by a bare distensible skin on the side of the neck. They
are confined generally to the northern districts of both hemispheres, but are most
numerous in North America. They are usually contained in eight genera, with one
or two sub-genera, and consist of about twenty-three or twenty-four species.

The ptarmigan, comprising the genus Lagopus, differ from the typical grouse by
having the toes as heavily feathered as are the tarsi, and also, with one exception, by

208 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

changing their summer plumage at the approach of winter, to one of a pure white.
They dwell among the snow-clad hills and peaks, are monogamous, both sexes devoting
themselves to the care of the young; and but one brood is raised, as a rule, in a season.
The eggs are about a dozen in number, varying in color from buff to a bright rufous,
thickly spotted and blotched with black. While the hen is incubating, the male re-
mains in the vicinity and keeps a bright look-out for enemies of every kind. One
species is restricted to the New World, Z. leucurus; three to the Old World, Z. sco-
ticus, of Great Britain and Ireland, ZL. hemileucurus, doubtfully distinet from . rupes-

io a ~

Fic. 98.— Lagopus albus, ptarmigan, in winter plumage.

tris, from Spitzbergen, and Z. mutus ; while L. albus and L. rupestris are inhabitants
of both hemispheres. They go in flocks, are not wild when not much hunted, and
their flesh is tolerably good for food. An exception may be made for the Scotch
grouse, whose flesh is excellent, but this species, from causes perhaps incident to its insu-
lar existence, has lost some of the ptarmigan traits, and adopted others pertaining more
to those of the true grouse. Although apparently nearest allied to the ZL. albus, of
which it may be considered an island form, it does not turn white in winter, and is
chiefly a bird of the moors, ascending at times, however, to the base of the higher
peaks. It varies in the colors of its plumage according to the localities it frequents,
those individuals inhabiting rocky ground being usually lightest in hue.

GROUSE. 209

Lagopus leucurus, the white-tailed ptarmigan, inhabits the Rocky Mountains
from the Arctic Ocean to latitude 37°; Z. rupestris is found in Iceland, Greenland
and Arctic America, and Z. mutus, the common ptarmigan, is met with in the higher
portion of the mountains of Scotland and northern Europe, and on the elevated
ranges of southern Europe.

The genera Pediwcetes and Cupidonia comprise those grouse generally known as
sharp-tails, prairie-hens, or prairie-chickens. The first contains one species composed
of two geographical races, which, while differing considerably in appearance in indi-
viduals most widely separated in their habits, blend together when the two styles
meet at the border of their respective ranges. The northern form, whose markings
are mainly black, has a white throat spotted with black, and is known as P. phasian-
ellus. It ranges in the interior of British America west to Fort Yukon, and south
nearly to the United States boundary, where it meets the well-known sharp-tail grouse,
or white-breasted prairie-chicken, which inhabits the northwestern portions of the
United States, and southwards to Colorado.

The Cupidonia cupido, or common prairie-chicken, which at one time inhabited all
of the north-eastern part of the United States, is now only found from Illinois westward
to the eastern foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, and south to eastern Texas. <A few
still linger in certain localities in the eastern states, notably on Martha’s Vineyard, off
the coast of Massachusetts. In western Texas a small form, called C. pallidicinctus
takes the place of C. eupido. The habits of all these birds are very similar, and too
well known to need recapitulation here. They all possess gular sacs (the member
of Pediccetes in a rather restricted degree), and by their inflation and contraction
cause the booming tones that resound over the prairies in the early spring. The sacs
in the members of the genus Cupidonia are covered by lengthened feathers, which are
raised when the bird is excited. From the continued persecution which the species
inhabiting the United States are subjected to by hunters and trappers, and the utter
disregard shown for the laws passed to protect them at certain seasons, they are yearly
becoming scarcer, and the time cannot be far distant when these fine birds will no
longer exist within our borders.

The sage-cock, or cock-of-the-plains, Centrocereus urophasianus, is the largest grouse
found in America, and nearly rivals in size the European cock-of-the-woods, but it
weighs much less, the heaviest male not often exceeding six pounds. The female, as
usual, is much smaller. It is dispersed over the western plains, in the almost desert
region where the Artemesia or wild sage grows, which plant affords the bird its prin-
cipal food, and consequently, from its bitter character, the flesh of this grouse is very
unpalatable. The sage-cock is chiefly remarkable for its lengthened tail of twenty
narrow, stiff feathers, which terminate in points, and also for the enormous air-sacs of
yellow skin, on either side of the neck, bordered by stiffened, scale-like feathers.
These sacs in the spring are inflated, and as the air is being exhausted a sound is
produced of a deep, hollow tone, like that arising from blowing into a large reed.
The upper parts are brown, varied with gray, black, and buff, and the under parts below
the breast are black, less noticeable in the female. Differing from other gallinaceous
birds, the sage-cock has no gizzard; the stomach, instead of being hard and muscular,
is soft and membranous, as in the birds of prey.

The generic term Zetrao was formerly employed for nearly all grouse except the
ptarmigan, but even in its restricted sense as used by later writers, some of its members
have been again separated either generically or at least sub-generically. Thus the

VOL. Iv. —14

210 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

North American blue-grouse have been placed apart under the term Dendragapus,
containing the dusky, blue, or pine-grouse, J. obscurus, of the eastern foot-hills of the
Rocky Mountaifis, south into Mexico, and its barely separable ally, Richardson’s
grouse, D. richardsoni, of the central Rocky Mountains from South Pass north to
Hudson Bay Territory, with its jet black, square tail, differing in this pomt from the
rounded black tail, with its terminal gray bar, of D. obscurus. A third variety is
D. fuliginosus from Oregon to Sitka. These birds inhabit exclusively the evergreen
forests at elevations of about 6,000 feet, but in winter, in the Sierra Nevada, they
descend to 2,000 feet. In the spring the males emit a prolonged sound, like the whir
of a rattan cane, caused by the inflation and contraction of two sacs, one on each side
of the throat, covered by an orange-colored skin, but which are usually concealed, when
collapsed, by the feathers. They are large birds, and their flesh is white and delicate.

The genus Canace has three species, the spruce-grouse, distributed throughout the
eastern United States to the Rocky Mountains, and northward to the Aretic regions ;
Franklin’s grouse, abundant in the Rocky, Bitter Root, and Cascade Mountains,
Washington Territory; and Hartlaub’s grouse, C. (alcipennis) hartlaubdi, from
Siberia, differing from the others, beside the coloring of its plumage, by having the
primaries falcate or sickle-shape. They are forest and swamp-loving birds, very tame
and unsuspicious, and their flesh is dark and generally bitter. The black-cock, 7. ¢etria
(sometimes placed in the genus ZLyrurus), has a glossy black plumage with blue
reflections, and the under tail-coverts pure white. It is abundant in Great Britain and
on the continent of Europe, extending eastward as far as China. In the mountains of
the Caucasus a second species is found, 7° mlokosiewiczi, differing from the black-cock
by its black under tail-coverts, and by having the tail bent downward and slightly
outward at the tip, the feathers trough-shaped at the ends. The black-cock is accus-
tomed, during the breeding season, to come together in large companies, called in
Sweden the ‘orrlek’ or ‘lek. The locality is an open place surrounded by forest
trees, where the males appear before dawn and begin to strut not unlike a turkey-cock.
When two or more meet during the performance, a desperate conflict ensues, not
unfrequently ending in a regular rough-and-tumble fight. Unlike the capercaili, the
black-cock, while ‘drumming,’ is wide-awake to all that is going on about him, except
when engaged in battle. After the males have been occupied with their mancuyvres
for a short period, frequently uttering their call-notes, the females appear upon the
scene, and the pairing takes place. The female, or gray-hen as she is called, deposits
her eggs, eight or nine in number, under some bushes or in the heather, and the chicks,
when first hatched, are fed on ants’ eggs or insects. Unlike the cock-of-the-woods,
although the species under consideration frequents the forests, it prefers the moors
and plains, and is very shy and difficult of approach.

The magnificent capereaili, 7. wrogallus, with its relative, the Siberian wood-
grouse, 7. wrogalloides, are the chief species of the genus Zetrao, and are the largest
of all known grouse. The first named is still met with in Scotland, having been
introduced into that country after having become extinct, and is found throughout
northern Europe, and in Asia, but is replaced in eastern Siberia by the smaller species,
T. urogalloides. All of these birds are denizens of the forests, delighting in the thick
pines and firs, upon the leaves of which the capereaili feeds. Space forbids a detailed
account of the habits of this noble bird, and will permit of but a brief notice of the
manner in which the male is accustomed to call the hens into his presence. The
species is polygamous, and the breeding season commences towards the end of March.

GROUSE. 211

The locality to which the cock resorts at such times is either on a level rock in some
opening of the forest, or on the upper branches of a pine. Here he begins his per-
formances by first uttering a note something like pellep repeated once or twice at
intervals, and he is then on the watch for any enemy, as is also the case when he
sounds his second note Xliskop, resembling a gulp in the throat. But while emitting
the third and last sound hede! hede! hede! the head is thrown backwards, the neck
waves to and fro, the tail is raised at right angles to the body, the wings quiver, and
the excited bird either pirouettes upon his perch, or slides sideways along the branch.
At this moment, it is asserted, he is both deaf and blind, and knows nothing of what
is going on about him, of which fact the hunter takes advantage to approach near for
a successful shot. This play, or ‘spel’ as it is called, is frequently repeated, and the
hens, on hearing the call, assemble from all points, and alight near him, often on the
same tree. A little before sunrise the performer descends to some open spot, where
the hens collect about him, and between the intervals of the ‘spel,’ which is still con-
tinued, he pairs with each member of his harem. Young cocks are not permitted to
‘spel’ in the presence of the old males, but are speedily driven away should any yen-
ture to approach. The cocks fight with great fiereeness during the breeding season,
springing high in the air and striking with their wings and claws, and endeavoring to
seize each other with their bills, and, when successful in this effort, the weaker is held
down to the ground and severely punished. The female scrapes a hole beneath some
tree or bush, and lays from five to fifteen eggs, of a yellowish color spotted with light
brown, and incubation lasts, it is said, for one month. The young remain with the
mother until the next winter. The male capercaili greatly exceeds the female in size
and weight, individuals sometimes turning the scale at twelve and thirteen pounds.
The upper parts are blackish-brown, each feather mottled with grayish; the feathers
of the throat are elongated and black; breast black with green reflections; flanks
brownish-gray sprinkled with black; under tail-coverts black, tipped with white ; the
tail black. The female is reddish-brown, barred and blotched with black ; sides of the
neck, throat, and breast rich orange, barred with black on the neck; lower parts pale
orange, feathers tipped with white; tail reddish-brown, barred with blackish-brown.
The ruffed-grouse, so called from its possessing tufts of numerous wide soft
feathers on each side of the neck, which the bird is capable of elevating, with its allies
of both hemispheres, is distinguished from all other grouse by having the lower part of
the legs bare of feathers, and constitute the genus Bonasa. The American species
consist of the B. wnbellus and its two sub-species or varieties, which are distributed
throughout the northern United States and Vancouver Island. The Rocky Mountain
form has been designated ZB. wmbelloides, and is a small gray bird with rather different
markings from the typical style, and a small ruff, while the variety of the west coast,
known as B. sabinei, is a large bird of a general dark orange-chestnut color. All the
forms delight in woods and dense thickets, are extremely shy, rise with a great
whirring noise, fly straight and swiftly. They roost in trees, and, when disturbed, take
refuge among the thickest foliage and remain perfectly motionless. The nest is
placed upon the ground, composed of leaves and plants, and the eggs, ten or more in
number, are yellowish or cream color, spotted with dull red. The male has a singular
habit called ‘drumming,’ which is indulged in at various seasons of the year. He
stands upon a trunk of some fallen tree, and, stretching himself into a horizontal posi-
tion, beats stiffly downwards with his wings, slowly at first, increasing the strokes
until they become so rapid that the wings are invisible. This produces a loud rolling

212 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

sound that may be heard at a great distance, but partakes somewhat of the character
of ventriloquism, as it is difficult to locate the position of the performer. In the
breeding season this may be executed to attract the females, but as the same perform-
ance is also gone through with in the autumn, it cannot always be for this purpose.
Some writers state that the wings strike the flanks, others that they strike each other
above the back, while others again, that they strike nothing, — the fact being that the
movement is so rapid that it defies the closest observer to determine exactly what
does take place.

Fic. 99.— Bonasa betulina, hazel-grouse.

The allies of the ruffed-grouse in Europe and Asia, the B. detulina, has, with two
other lately described species, B. sewarzowi, and B. griseiventris, been separated by
some writers into a distinct genus, Zetrastes. The hazel-grouse is not found in Great
Britain, but is distributed generally throughout Europe and Asia from France to
northern China. It has also been met with in Japan. This species is not possessed
of the ruff, and is smaller than the American bird, neither does it indulge in the habit
of drumming. It is monogamous, the males leaving the young to the care of the

GUINEA-FOWL, 213

females. The eggs, from eight to fourteen in number, are buff spotted with brown.
It is a rather handsome bird, with a black throat, back ashy-gray varied with black,
and the under surface of the body white mottled with brown. The female is without
the black throat, but has this part fulvous white varied with blackish spots.

The great family Puastanip& is the most important of the Galling, whether we
consider the number, variety, and beauty of the species of which it is composed, or
their great value as food-producers for the human race. It contains between eighty

FiG, 100,— Numida cristata, crested Guinea-fow], and NV. pucherani, helmeted Guinea-fowl.

and ninety species, some of which rank with the most gorgeously plumaged creatures
to be found in the class of birds. Although many have been the arrangements pro-
posed for the members of this family, as to the number both of the sub-families and
genera, some writers considering that certain species should constitute separate fami-
lies, yet following the latest work devoted to these birds, the Phasianidw may be
divided into eight sub-families and about eighteen genera.

The sub-family, Numidinz, contains the Guinea-fowls, consisting of those with crests,

214 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

those with bare heads and bony helmets, or those with an occipital feathery patch. There
are five or six species of the first division, about four of the second, and one of the
last. The first has been separated by some authors under the generic term, Guttera,
and are much more graceful birds than those of which the common Guinea-hen,
Numida meleagris, is the type. They have a jet-black plumage dotted over with
small bluish-white or light-green spots; the bare skin of the neck is blue or purplish,
some having these parts diversified with bright red. The top of the head is covered
with a long, full, black crest, and the primaries are buff. Several species also haye the
upper part of the breast black, of a more or less extensive area, sometimes tinted with
chestnut. The skin of the neck is full, and forms a pleat or fold behind and on the

Fia,. 101, — Acrylium vulturinum.

sides. The helmeted Guinea-fowls have the upper part of the head bare, with a bony
crest in the centre, yarying in size according to the species, and with wattles of differ-
ent shape and colors pendant from the angles of the mouth. These birds also have a
general black plumage covered with white spots, V. meleagris also having the upper
part of the breast and back brown with a lilac lustre. Two species, V. mitrata and
Acryllium vulturinum, are found in Madagascar; the one last-named, and all the other
members of the sub-family, are found in various portions of the African continent.
They go in large flocks, are very noisy, extremely swift of foot, wild and wary. The
A. vulturinum is a peculiar as well as a very beautiful bird, with the lower part of
the neck, and upper portion of the back and breast covered with very long lanceolate

JUNGLE-FOWL. 215

feathers, having white centres, succeeded by a line of black and fringed with blue,
the black portion minutely dotted with white. The mantle is black, spotted with
white; the centre of breast beautiful light blue; flanks rich purple, spotted with
white, the spots encircled with black; tail like the mantle, the central rectrices long
and pointed; the head and neck naked, with the exception of a patch of short chest-
nut feathers on the occiput.

Two curious west African birds, Agelastes meleagrides, and Phasidus niger, com-
pose the sub-family Agelastine. They seem to be a kind of link between the jungle-
fowl, Gallus, and the Guinea-hens, having bare heads and necks, and the tarsi armed
with spurs. Not very much is known about them, very few specimens having been
obtained. The first has a flesh-colored head and neck, all the upper part of breast
and back pure white, and the rest of plumage black vermiculated with white. The
P. niger is black, the feathers obscurely mottled with brown. Head and neck flesh-
color, and a line of black feathers, very short, from the base of the bill to the occiput.
This last was discovered by Du Chaillu near Cape Lopez. He states that the species
is not gregarious, a male and one or two females at most being found together, and is
extremely wild and wary.

The jungle-fowl compose the sub-family Galline. There are four well-established
species, and a possibly doubtful fifth, Gallus stramineicollis, from Sulu. From these
gallant game-birds spring all the different species of the common fowl. Two species
are island forms, G@. varius from Java, Lombok, Sumbawa, and Flores, and G@. lafay-
etti from Ceylon. The first is remarkable for having the neck hackles square at the
tips, and but a single median wattle, in place of one on each side of the face, as is
usual with other jungle-fowls. This wattle, and the comb, which is not serrated, are
of brilliant hues, the last being green along the head, succeeded by a narrow yellow
line, then reddish shading off into dark purple, while the wattle has two thirds of the
upper parts deep rose, then yellow, and the bottom deep green. The sides of the
head are flesh-color, and the throat yellow, both bare of feathers. The Ceylon bird has
also a curiously colored comb, which is serrated on the upper edge, of a bright red
with a central yellow patch that graduates into the surrounding color. The other
species are G. sonnerati, of southern India; and G. ferrugineus, of north India, Assam,
Burmah, and the Malay countries; also doubtfully from Turkestan and the islands of
Sumatra, Lombok, and Timor; probably imported into the last two named. As
their trivial name implies, these birds are native of jungle tracts and deep forests,
though they will come out into the open cultivated ground near their retreats to glean
among the stubble. In such places, when approached, they take wing readily, flying
steadily with rapid beats and alternate sailings, alighting at the edge of, the covert,
and run swiftly into some place of concealment. The cocks crow and the hens cackle
the same as barn-yard fowls, but in somewhat sharper tones. The cocks usually carry
the tail drooping, erecting it only when challenging a rival or paying court to the
hens. The males fight desperately among themselves, and death often follows the
stroke of the terrible spur. In their wild state these birds are said to be monogamous,
although some observers doubt if this is always the case. The above remarks apply
more particularly to the G. ferrugineus. Sonnerat’s jungle-fowl is not gregarious, but
goes only in small coveys or singly or in pairs. They like the thin bamboo jungle
and evergreen forests, and only congregate in numbers where food is exceptionally
plenty. This species retains its wildness in captivity and cannot easily be induced to
breed. The flesh is not very good, being dry and hard, and the species is considered

216 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

by sportsmen hardly worth shooting. Although armed with very powerful spurs,
they are said by some observers to be not quarrelsome, and several males and females
will live very quietly together. All these species are omnivorous, eating grain, grass,
leaves, seeds, fruits, insects, ete. The end of the hackles of G. sonnerati are very
peculiar, being formed of a singularly brittle substance like a fine shaving in texture.

The sub-family Phasianine contains five genera, Jthaginis, Euplocamus, Lobio-
phasis, Thaumalea, and Phasianus, comprising over forty species, some of which are
the most beautiful of the Phasianide. The members of the genus first mentioned,
known as the blood-pheasants, are by some classed with the partridges, but it would
seem that they should more properly be placed with the birds of this family. They
are alpine species, the Z. erventis, inhabiting the Himmalehs at a height of ten thou-
sand to fourteen thousand feet. The tarsi are armed with numerous spurs, as many
as five on one leg and four on the other having been observed on the males. Three
species are known, the one mentioned, which is found in Nepal and Sikkim, the Z. geof-
JSroyi, from Moupin in north China and Thibet, and the JZ. sinensis from Chensi.
Very little is known of the habits of the two last, but the longer-known species has
been met with in its native wilds by several competent naturalists. The Z. eruentis
goes in flocks of twenty or thirty individuals, always in the immediate vicinity of the
snow, but near the forests. In winter it burrows under the snow for protection
against storm and the severity of the temperature at the great elevations at which it
lives. Its principal food consists of the tops of the pine and juniper, berries and
moss. Its flesh has a strong flavor, and is not very tender. The flight is of very
short duration, and it quickly runs to shelter.

Euplocamus contains numerous species, some fourteen or more, and has by differ-
ent writers been divided into several sub-genera, but these have not been generally
adopted. The species may be classed in three divisions,— the firebacks, the silver and
the kalij pheasants. The first of these is represented by six or eight species; the
second by about four, and the third by three or four. The firebacks are of two styles,
those with short, square, hen-like tails observed in both sexes, and those with broad,
rather lengthened tails. They are birds of very rich plumage, the lower portion of
the back being bright, fiery, metallic red, the face is covered with bare skin extending
above the eyes, in some species almost like horns, deep blue or bright red in color,
and certain ones also are adorned with full upright crests. They are natives of Siam,
the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and Formosa. The species of the last-named
island, 2. swinhot, may not strictly be included among the true firebacks, as it has
none of the fiery color on the back, this part being black, the feathers margined with
brilliant blue, but the entire scapulars are a deep chestnut red. The rufous-tailed
firebacks are the smallest species of the group, have no crests, and the females are also
armed with sharp spurs. But little is known of the habits of these splendid birds,
save that they frequent thick forests, go in small bands of five or six individuals, feed
on berries, leaves, insects, and various grubs, are difficult to flush, but when on the
wing fly rapidly and for a considerable distance, and are very pugnacious. Nothing
is known of the nidification, but an egg obtained from a captured female of Z. vieilloti,
was large, smooth, and of a pale café au lait color. The Siamese tireback, EZ. prelatus,
is a particularly graceful and beautiful bird. It has a long blue upright crest, the
shafts bare of webs at the base; neck, breast, and back bluish-ash color, mottled with
black; middle of back golden; rump and upper tail-coverts black, with blue and green
reflections ; the feathers margined with deep velvety crimson. The flanks and under

PHEASANTS. 217

parts are black, glossed with deep blue; the tail and long coverts black, with blue and
green reflections. The bare skin of the face is crimson; the legs and feet red. The
silver-pheasants, of which the well-known £. nycthemerus of China is typical, are
large birds with the entire upper parts and tail white, and all the feathers are more or
less minutely mottled with black. The Chinese species exhibits more white than any
of the others, and the two central tail-feathers are nearly pure white, the breast and
under parts bluish black. Besides China, these birds are natives of Burmah and

Fic. 102.— Euplocamus nycthemerus, silver-pheasant.

various parts of India. They are forest-loving birds,
ascending as high as three thousand to four thousand
feet upon the mountains, apparently omnivorous, feed-
ing upon insects, grain, seeds, ete., not gregarious,
and when disturbed utter a peculiar clicking sound.
They are pugnacious, and the males are continually
fighting. The Z. lineatus breeds in March, the hen
laying seven or eight pale-yellowish eggs, minutely
pitted all over, in a slight hollow in the ground, thinly lined with leaves and a few
feathers. The third division contains the kalij or kaleege pheasants, as the term is vari-
ously spelled. They inhabit parts of India, Nepal, Bhotan, Sikkim, Assam, Arakan, etc.,
are four species — possibly more —in number, with long pendant crests, upper parts of
a generally glossy black plumage in some species, with the rump feathers margined with
white ; breast and flanks covered with buffy-white lanceolate feathers. One species, 2
horsfieldi, has the under parts bluish-black, like the back. The tails are generally of a
bluish-black color. These birds range from the foot of the hills to eight thousand

218 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

feet of elevation, are not gregarious in the sense of going in flocks, but three or four
are often found together. The males are extremely pugnacious, and Wilson states
that, having shot one, and while it was fluttering on the ground in its death-throes,
another male rushed out of the jungle and attacked it with the greatest fury. Like
many of this genus, the male kaleege makes a singular drumming sound with its
i r in defiance of its rivals,

wings, either for the purpose of attracting the females, «
and a favorite method of capturing these birds is to fasten a live male in some open
place, and imitate the drumming sound, when other males rush out to fight him, and
are easily shot or caught in the snares set for the purpose. The general habits and

F1iG. 108. — Kuplocamus melanotus.

nidification of the kaleege pheasant are very similar to the silver pheasants and others
of the same genus.

The genus Lobiophasis contains but one known species, Z. bulweri (the bird de-
scribed afterwards as LZ. castanei-caudatus, being in immature plumage), and was
created for the elegant pheasant obtained by Mr. Ussher on the Lawas River in Borneo.
This bird in many particulars is peculiar, if not, indeed, unique. There are two erect
horns of nude skin behind the ears, and two smaller ones at the base of the nostrils,
while two lobes hang from the angle of the bill. The plumage is metallic of various
hues, and the tail is pure white, the feathers, thirty in number, are rather stiff, and the
shafts bare of webs towards their extremities. The tarsi are spurred. The female is
brownish chestnut, all the feathers finely vermiculated with dark brown. The tail is

PHEASANTS. 219

moderately long, and possesses the unusual number of twenty-eight rectrices. The
bare skin of the face is bright blue, with one small wattle at the occiput, and one at
the chin. The tarsi bear indications of spurs.

The golden pheasant, noted for its brilliant colors and magnificent ruff, is the type
of the genus Zhaumalea. Three species are known, 7. picta, 7. obscura, and T.
amherstia. They are all Asiatic so far as known, being natives of Thibet and China.
It is difficult to conceive more gorgeously attired creatures than these birds, and it is

<r UI
ATL

Fia. 104.— Thaumalea amherstia, Lady Amherst pheasant.

not easy to decide which should bear the palm for beauty, the golden, with its amber-
colored crest, green metallic mantle, orange-red ruff tipped with deep blue, scarlet
under-parts, golden yellow rump, and lengthened tail, or the Lady Amherst, with its
crimson, white-tipped crest, pure white ruff margined with deep green, golden yellow
rump margined with dark green, metallic green breast, and pure white under-parts,
and the greatly lengthened tail with the median feathers light gray with bars of green
and black mottlings. Not much has been recorded of the habits of these pheasants,

220 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

in spite of the fact that the 7. picta has been so long known, and of their nidification
nothing has been related. They dwell in thick woods on the mountains of moderate
elevation, and are hardy birds, the Lady Amherst pheasant being indifferent to both
cold and snow, and is omnivorous, like the domestic fowl. It is an extremely jealous
species, and will not permit the golden pheasant, its only rival, to approach the bounds
of its habitation. The two species are not met with either in the same valleys or on
the same mountains. The 7. obscura resembles the 7. picta, but is a darker bird in
all stages of its existence, and is stated to inhabit Japan, although it cannot be said that
this country has undoubtedly been established as its habitat.

The genus Phasianus includes the typical pheasants, some sixteen in number.
It has been divided into several genera, which have been adopted by some writers
either wholly or in part, while other authors prefer to consider them as sub-generic
distinctions. Thus Calophasis was proposed for C’. elliott, Graphophasianus fo. P. sceem-
meringii, Syrmaticus for P. reevesii,and Catreus for P. wallichii. The first of these,
C. ellioti, is a most lovely bird. It is anative of the mountains near Ningpo, proy-
ince of Che-Kiang, China, and has the sides and back of neck bluish-gray, graduating
into white; chin and throat black; back and breast metallic golden; lower breast
and abdomen pure white, flanks irregularly barred with black, white, and chestnut ;
under tail-coverts deep chestnut and black; upper scapulars black margined with
white, forming a bar on the shoulder; lesser wing-coverts maroon chestnut, reflecting
a fiery metallic tint, greater coverts deep chestnut with a black bar followed by a
broad white tip, making a white band across the wing; lower back and rump steel-
black barred with white, upper tail-coverts gray mottled with black; tail long and
barred alternately with stone-gray and chestnut, the latter narrowly bordered basally
with black; legs bluish-gray, armed with well-developed spurs; skin of face scarlet.
The hen is very like a grouse in her coloring; with a black throat, this hue extending
on to the breast, under-parts white; side of head reddish cream-color; upper parts
yellowish and reddish brown, barred and mottled with black. An ally to this brilliant
bird was discovered by Mr. Hume in Munipur. It has some of the markings of C.
ellioti, but differs in the throat and upper breast, which is metallic blue-black, and in
the under-parts, which are maroon chestnut with metallic crimson fringes to the
feathers. The female has the neck, throat, and breast a dull pale sienna-brown, abdo-
men dingy pale ochraceous, upper parts and tail similar to the hen of the other species.
It is not so handsome a bird as the (. e//ioti, but nevertheless is remarkable for its
peculiar coloration, They dwell in the dense forests and are very shy and difficult to
shoot, but not much is known of their economy and habits. Japan produces a beauti-
tiful species, the P. semmeringii, and a variety of it called P. scintillans, a most
attractive species with a very long tail and a plumage generally of a metallic copper.
Very little is known about these birds in their wild state, but in captivity they are
pugnacious, the male frequently killing the female when confined in the same enclo-
sure. Another gorgeous pheasant is the P. reevesii from northern China. This has a
general golden yellow plumage, each feather barred with black ; flanks white, the chestnut
margin separated from the white by a black bar, the abdomen black. The tail is ex-
cessively long, the central feathers sometimes reaching five and six feet in length.
They are grayish-white, margined with deep buff, and barred with black and chestnut.
These feathers are sometimes worn by the mandarins in their hats. Reeves’ pheasant
is a large bird, and its flesh is white and very delicate. It is numerous in the Tung-
ling or eastern burial-places of the Chinese emperors, situated northeast of Pekin, and

PHEASANTS. 291

FiG. 105. — Phasianus reevesii, Reeves’ pheasant.

in other parts of northern China. The
cheer or Wallich’s pheasant, P. (catreus)
wallichii, is a native of the western Him-
malehs to the borders of Nepal. It is a
large bird, weighing from two pounds ten
ounces to three pounds seven ounces. It
has a lengthened dark-brown crest, upper
parts yellowish-brown bound with black, :
rufous rump, ashy breast, and rufous flanks
barred with black. The tail is long and
broad. The cheer is a local species, dwell-
ing at from four thousand to eight thousand
feet of elevation, and haunting grassy hills
covered with oak and pine. During the
day the birds remain hidden, coming out to
feed at morning and evening. They run
fast and lie close, and are difficult to flush.
Both sexes crow, and may be heard, when
engaged in this amusement, for a great dis-
tance. This pheasant feeds on roots, grubs,
seeds, berries, etc., and roosts on the ground,
all the members of a flock, numbering from

: we 4 six to a dozen individuals, huddled close
% 4 . Oh aha together. It nests from April to June, the

222 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

——

eggs are small, of a pale stone color, with brownish specks towards the ends. A small
group of green-breasted pheasants may be here noticed, consisting of three species ;
P. versicolor from Japan, P. elegans from Sze-chuen, China, and 7. decollatus from Sze-
chuen and Moupin. They are all species of beautiful plumage, the green hues with
metallic reflections covering the entire under-parts of P. versicolor, confined to a broad
band from throat to vent in the second named, the flanks being a rich chestnut ; while
the third, P. decollatus, has the green color restricted to the region of the abdomen,
with the flanks golden yellow. In habits, so far as known, they resemble other mem-
bers of this genus. The white-winged pheasants, of which the superb P. insignis and
its hardly less beautiful relative, ?. mongolicus, may be considered as typical, form
another small group, distinguished by the presence of a more or less broad white ring
around the lower part of the neck, beneath the rich metallic hues of the head and neck.
They are natives of various parts of Asia, China, and the island of Formosa. They are
met with in flocks of considerable size in the localities they frequent, and are one of the
chief attractions for the table to the people inhabiting the countries in which they dwell.

The remaining species of the genus Phasianus are those without rings around the
neck, the metallic hues of blue or green coming to the breast. This group embraces
the well-known P. colchicus, or common English pheasant so-called, and the superb
P. shawi from eastern Turkestan. The English pheasant was naturalized in Great
Britain before the Norman Conquest, the earliest record being in the year 1059,
when it was mentioned in a bill of fare now preserved in the British Museum. It was
probably introduced by the Roman conquerors, who also brought the fallow-deer to
Britain. Like all of this genus, these pheasants are lovers of thickets and forests,
shy, and, when hard pressed, taking refuge in trees. They have a kind of one-syllable
crow, by which, in the spring, the male summons the female into his presence. They
are omnivorous, and the male does not trouble himself with nest-building or the care
of the young.

The sub-family Meleagrinse comprises the turkeys. Some writers place these with
the Guinea fowls in a separate family, Mereacripx, but it seems that they should more
properly be included as a sub-family of the Phasianids, to the species of which they
are allied by various characteristics. But three species are known, the North
American bird, I. gallopava, the Mexican IL mexicana, and the Central American M.
ocellata. The habits of the common species are so well known that it is unnecessary
to devote any space to them here. The Central American species is a bird of wonder-
ful plumage, excelling the others — brilliantly metallic as theirs may be —by the
extraordinary variety and splendid hue of its scintillating coloring. The bare head
and neck is deep blue, covered with bright red warts; the wattle between the eyes is
also deep blue ending in yellow; the upper part of the back feathers metallic green,
succeeded by a line of black, and terminating with yellow; back and rump feathers
blue, followed by black and tipped with red; greater wing-coverts deep red; flanks
and lower parts black tipped with brilliant red ; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers light
brown mottled with black, followed by a broad spot of deep blue margined on both
sides with black, then a line of yellow and tipp.d with deep red; bill, legs, and feet
red. All these bright colors are metallic, and as brilliant as those of the humming-bird.
This species goes in small flocks, is never found in the dense forests, preferring dis-
tricts where forests and open country prevail. The birds roost in trees, and the male
struts in the same manner as the common species, and in other of its habits greatly
resembles the Jf gallopavo.

PHEASANTS. 923,

The sub-family LopnornoriN a: contains three genera, Pucrasia, Ceriornis, and
Lophophorus. The species are inhabitants of India and Asia, and number about a
dozen in all. The pucras or koklass pheasants, by which trivial name the members of
Pucrasia ave known, are found in India and China. They are chiefly remarkable for
their long crests, the central one springing from the top of the head, and the narrow
occipital ones, on either side, and, at times, these are elevated above the other. They
have a general brown and gray plumage, marked in various ways with black, dark
brown, chestnut, and white, with the breast and lower parts more or less covered with

Fic, 106.— Meleagris ocellata, Central American turkey.

deep chestnut. They have broad cuneate tails, in one species at least (P. durwini)
elegantly marked and striped in gray, black, and chestnut. The habits of P. macro-
lopha have been thoroughly described by Indian naturalists, and those of the other
species, so far as known, closely resemble them. It is a forest bird, ranging from 4,000
feet to the extreme limits of forest on the Himmalehs, is of rather a solitary disposi-
tion, generally found singly or in pairs, except when the members of a brood are
together. When the cover is slight, it flushes at once or runs quickly, but otherwise
lies close. The flight is extremely rapid, and the bird shoots down a declivity like

224 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

lightning. The males crow at daybreak, or at any sudden noise, like thunder or the
report of a gun. The species feeds on leaves, buds, roots, grubs, acorns, seeds, ber-
ries, moss, or flowers, and grain, and roosts in trees or on low bushes. It nests at
elevations of from 6,000 to 9,000 feet, the breeding-time lasting from April to the
middle of June. The nest is a slight depression in the ground, and the eggs, seven
to nine in number, are a rich pale buff spotted with deep brownish red. The species
is believed to be monogamous.

The tragopans—by which name the members of the genus Ceriornis are known—are
five in number, and are found in India and China. They are birds of extreme beauty
of plumage, presenting hues of the most brilliant reds, browns, buffs, and lustrous

FiG. 107. — Ceriornis satyra, crimson tragopan,

blacks. The backs and breasts are usually covered with round white spots, like those
seen in the Guinea fowl, or else with buff spots of various sizes surrounded with
black. A fleshy horn, capable of being erected, and of various colors according to
the species, exists on either side of the head; and on the lower part of the throat is
an extensible wattle of brilliant colors, in some species deep blue barred with bright
red, or yellow and shining green. When excited the males extend these gular aprons
over the breast, producing for a moment a most beautiful effect. The best known of
these birds are the Indian crimson tragopan, C. satyra, or the black-headed tragopan,
C. melanocephala, They are dwellers of the higher ranges, and are found in summer
at heights varying from 8,000 to 11,000 feet, are essentially forest birds, very difficult

PHEASANTS. 295

to perceive in the thickets, in spite of their rich plumage, and, when disturbed, run
swiftly to another cover. When roused by dogs, they fly into trees and call vocifer-
ously, but on man’s approach they take flight, and do not alight again until a long
distance has been traversed. In early spring — April — the males begin to call, inviting
the females to some chosen spot. ‘The nest is roughly formed of grass, small sticks
and feathers, and the eggs are large and vary from a pale café au lait color, to a dull
reddish-buff minutely speckled with a darker shade. One of the most characteristic
points of these birds is the modes of ‘showing off’ adopted by the male. After
walking about in an excited manner he places himself before the female, with the
body crouching, and the tail bent down; the head is then jerked downward, and the
horns and wattle become conspicuous. The wings have a flapping movement, and
the neck appears to swell and the horns vibrate. Suddenly the bird draws himself to
his full height, the wings are expanded and quivering, the horns are erected, and the
wattles fully displayed. At other times he simply erects his feathers and elevates one
shoulder, presenting a greater surface to view, but does not exhibit the wattles, and a
third method is to stand on a perch, and, by shaking the head, exhibiting for a moment
the horns and wattle. The other known species of Ceriornis are C. blythii from
upper Assam, C. caboti of southwestern China, and C. temminckii of central China.

A yery curious bird was procured by Abbé David in Moupin, Thibet, and consti-
tutes the sole known species of the genius Tetraophasis, and is called 7. obscurus.
Possessing the powerful bill of the members of Lophophorus, it has none of the bril-
liant colors of those birds, but is clothed in a plumage more like that of the snow-
partridges ( Zetraogallus), and would seem to be a connecting link with those species
and the Phasianidze. The sexes are alike, their dress being a combination of dark brown
and gray, with a yellowish-white abdomen. It is rather a large bird of about twenty
inches in length, and is common in the mountain ranges of eastern Kakonoor, goes in
small flocks in the depths of the forests, and feeds upon roots which it digs up with
its powerful bill.

The gorgeously plumaged species of the genus Lophophorus are three or four in num-
ber, Z. sclateri, L. Vhaysii, and L.impeyanus. It is difficult by means of a written de-
scription to give any idea of the magnificent appearance of these brilliant birds to any
one who has not seen them. Their metallic hues of fiery red, green, purple, and gold vie
in beauty and in their iridescent quality with the brightest of those seen among the
humming-birds, and if one could imagine one of these small flying gems increased to
the size of a fowl, something of the appearance of these monals might be conveyed
to the mind. Sclater’s monal from Assam, and L’huysii’s from Thibet, are very little
known, save that they inhabit the the high ranges of mountains. The latter species,
at about 14,000 feet of elevation, goes in small flocks and feeds on roots. The im-
peyan pheasant, which ranges throughout the Himmalehs, is well known, and its econ-
omy and habits are thoroughly familiar through the observations of many competent
naturalists. In summer they ascend to great elevations, having been met with at a
height of 16,000 feet, but in winter, when the snows are heavy, they descend some-
times as low as 4,500 feet, the females generally coming farther down than the old
males. Occasionally they are found in considerable numbers scattered through the
forest, the sexes generally by themselves, and if they pair, which is doubtful, the
males leave the females and pay no attention to her while sitting, nor to the young
when hatched. The call is a plaintive whistle, sometimes heard at all hours of the
day. Asa rule they are not wild save when much hunted, or in the spring, and when

VoL. 1v.—15

226 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

in the forest will at once take wing, but in the open field usually walk or run to
cover. They utter, when flushed, a succession of shrill whistles, and, on alighting,
commence their plaintive call. They alight often in trees, and remain motionless,
sometimes permitting a sufficiently near approach to be killed with a shot-gun. They
feed on grubs or maggots, which they find under leaves, ete., and pass a great part of
their time digging in the ground with their powerful bills. The flesh is delicate, simi-
lar to the turkey’s, being especially well flavored in autumn and winter. Great num-
bers are killed for their skins, and in some places they have been almost exterminated
in order to satisfy this pernicious demand of fashion in civilized lands. They breed
at high elevations (7,000 to 12,000 feet), make little or no nest, and the eggs, four to

> 7 >S

Fic. 108.— Crossoptilon mantchuricum, eared-pheasant.

six in number, are a dull white, speckled with reddish-brown. The sexes are entirely
unlike in plumage, the female haying none of the brilliant colors so characteristic of
the male. The cocks weigh from four pounds six ounces to five pounds and a half;
the females a little less. The crests of all the species of Zophophorus are different,
that of the impeyan having the shafts bare of webs at the base, with metallic green
spatules at the tips. Z. Phuysii has a full, lengthened crest, metallic green with
purple reflections; but Z. sclateri has the top of the head covered with short, curly,
recurved, green feathers. All of the species have the back of the neek brilliant me-
tallic red, extending on to the back on the two last named, but changing in Z. impey-
anus in certain lights to a golden yellow.

The eared-pheasants of the genus Crossoptilon are four in number, and the females
only differ from the males by wanting spurs. They receive their trivial name from

PHEASANTS. 997

the presence of a band of white feathers which extends from the throat on both sides
of the neck, and projects above and beyond the occiput like ears. They are large,
graceful, and imposing-looking birds, very gentle and confiding in disposition, dwelling
in the forests of the high mountain ranges of Thibet and China. The Chinese species
are C. mantchuricwm and C. auritwn; the first has the back and breast purplish
black; rump and upper tail-coverts grayish white; flanks and under tail-coverts leaden
gray; tail-feathers grayish white at the base, purplish blue at the ends. The other
species has a general uniform ashy blue plumage; the middle tail-feathers are black,
with green and violet reflections, the lateral ones white or nearly so, the end colored
like the median ones. The Thibetan species are C. thibetanwm, and C. drouynii,
and have a general pure white plumage, with the crown of head velvety black. They
differ from each other in the wings and tail,—the first having the secondaries dark
lead-color, and the primaries dark rufous brown; while the tail is black, glossed with
green, and with a white stripe on the outer webs of the lateral feathers. On the
other hand the C. drowynii has wings grayish white, and the tail is dark gray, with
the ends steel-blue, the central portions of the feathers having violet and coppery
green reflections. The median rectrices of all the species have their webs very
loose and long, and they fall over the other feathers on either side. The tail is carried
in a drooping posture. There is also a nude crimson skin around the eyes of the four
species.

For a long time a species of the genus Argus was supposed to exist, on account of
some feathers in the Paris Mtseum, which resembled somewhat the long tail-feathers
of the known species. Latterly, however, an entire specimen of the bird has been
obtained from the interior of Tonquin, which shows that the species belong to a dif-
ferent genus, and the term Ztheinardius has been proposed for it. The J. ocellatus
does not possess the long secondaries, nor the lengthened median rectrices of Argus,
but the tail is composed of twelve large, graduated feathers, and the head is not bare.
The rectrices are dark, ash-gray, covered with large reddish spots with black centres,
oblong in form, but lengthened into lines toward the margin of the webs. The feathers
are very broad, graduate to a sharp point, and about four and a half feet long.

The true argus pheasants are so well known that a description of their plumage would
be quite unnecessary. There are but two species, the common Argus giganteus of wpper
India, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra, and the A. grayi of Borneo. Nothing is
known of the habits of the latter, but several competent observers have related some
facts regarding the commoner species. Botn sexes live quite alone, each male haying
a clear spot in the jungle, which he keeps scrupulously clean. These places are
probably used for exhibition grounds, for the males at certain seasons strut after the
manner of the peacock; but instead of the train, which the argus does not possess,
the long wing-feathers are elevated, and the secondaries, with their numerous eyes or
spots, are arranged in a semicircle, the spread tail filling the space between the wings
completing the circle, and producing avery beautiful effect. They rarely fly, but escape
by running and hiding, no difficult matter in the dense jungles they frequent. The
females have no especial place of resort, but roam about the forest, visiting occasionally
the male in his abode. The food consists of fruit and insects of various kinds. The
female builds a rude nest, lays seven or eight eggs, said to be cream-color speckled
with brown. The Bornean species is smaller, has a red breast, a black tail, and is
differently marked on the wings and back.

The genus Polyplectron is so called on account of its members having several spurs

228 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

upon the tarsi. They are very beautiful birds, the feathers of the wings and tail being
covered with ocelli of brilliant metallic colors, of blue, green, or purple, sometimes with
red reflections. There are several species known, inhabiting Burmah, India, and
the Malay countries, also in Cochin China and the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, and the
Philippines. One species also is a native of Thibet. They are very shy and timid
birds, frequenting dense jungles, through which they run rapidly, and hide and skulk
so closely as to make it almost an impossibility to discover them. Some species are

Fic. 109. — Polyplectron bicalcaratum, peacock-pheasant.

found on the mountains at elevations of 5,000 feet above the sea, but as a rule they
are met with at more moderate heights. Not much is known of the nidification of
these splendid creatures, the nest of only one species having been procured in the
countries they inhabit, viz., that of P. thisetanwm, which was found in Cachar, and
was placed at the foot of a large bush standing amongst grass and cane jungle. It
was about nine inches in diameter and three inches in depth, made of twigs and leaves
roughly put together, with a slight lining of the bird’s own feathers. The eggs were
a café au lait color. Two are generally the complement of a nest. The young are

MEGAPODES. 2929

covered with down, and follow the mother closely in search of food. She is acecus-
tomed to spread her fan-like tail, and the young keep beneath it and are thus protected
from showers and enemies of the air, as they only appear when called to pick up some
food the hen has found. The species known, beside the one already named, are,
P. bicalearatum, P. germanii, P. helene, P. schleiermachi, P. chaleurum, and P.
napoleonis.

The genus Pavo contains the peacocks, of which there are two distinct species,
and one which is very doubtfully distinct. The common species, P. cristutus, is
known to everyone, and this gorgeous bird, so little appreciated because it is so famil-
iar, is very plentiful in the forests and jungles, as well as in open places in India and
Ceylon. It delights in hilly and mountainous districts, and it appears to be a curious
fact that whenever peafowl are met with in the jungle, it is a pretty sure sign that
tigers are in the vicinity. Whether the tigers rely upon the bird’s ability to detect
the approach of enemies, for they are very wary and always on the lookout, or whether
the agile cat watches them in order to secure one or more for a meal, is unknown, but
probably both of these suppositions influence the beast to seek the bird’s resorts.
The peafowl go in flocks, sometimes in very large numbers, and it is a beautiful sight
when they take wing, their long trains glistening in the sun. The hens lay from
April to October according to the locality, and the eggs, eight or ten in number, of a
dull brownish white color, are placed on the bare ground in the most secluded part of
the jungle. The young males retain a plumage like that of the hen for a year or
eighteen months, and the train, which is composed of the upper tail-coverts, not the tail-
feathers, is not perfected until the third year. Peafowl are omnivorous, and they eat
insects, worms, reptiles, flesh, fish, grain, ete. The Javan peafowl (P. muticus) is, as
its trivial name implies, a native of Java, but is not restricted to that island, being
found also in the Burmese and Malay countries, Ceylon, and possibly Sumatra. It is
a handsomer bird than the common peacock, having the crest, head, and neck rich
green, and the breast bluish-green margined with gold. Its back is bright copper-
color barred with green and light brown, and the upper tail-coverts are a rich green
with gold and copper-color reflections. The train is similar to that of P. cristatus,
but more bronzy in color. The two species resemble each other in their habits. A
third supposed species, P. nigripennis, in appearance like LP. eristatus, with black
shoulders to the wings, is probably but a melanitic variety of the common bird.

Sup-Orper II.— GALLINA-PERISTEROPODES.

The Peristeropodous Gallinze comprises two families, the Megapodidx and the Cra-
cid, containing those gallinaceous birds with feet like pigeons, or all four toes
placed upon the same plane, the hallux not being raised, as is the case with the species
of the other families included in this order.

Two sub-families are generally acknowledged in the family Mrcaropm2, viz.,
Megapodinz, containing two genera and between twenty-five and thirty species, and
Talegalline also with three genera and six species. The extraordinary method of
nidification adopted by these birds is unparalleled in the whole range of Ornithology,
and they are the first feathered inventors of an artificial incubator to take the place of
the mother, and provide the warmth necessary to develop the embryo contained in
the egg into the perfect chick, which is ordinarily supplied by the parent’s body.
The Megapodes are usually rather small birds, but with enormous feet, and dwell in

230 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the thick brush near the sea-shore. Some species go in large flocks, the Megapodius
nicobariensis having been met with in coveys of from thirty to fifty, but the majority
of this genus are more usually met with in pairs and in quite small parties. They are
natives of Australia, New Guinea, the islands of the eastern archipelago, and of the
Pacific Ocean. As their habits and economy are generally alike, a description of
those of I tumulus from Australia will answer for all the species of the genus.

The Australian megapode is accustomed to seize with his foot a mass of soil, dead
leaves, and other kinds of vegetable matter, and with a powerful kick backwards
throw it toa common centre. The males assist the females in the operation of build-
ing the mound. By the constant accumulation of soil, and vegetable refuse, a conical
mound is built, and this is added to year after year by the original builders, or others,
perhaps their descendants, until they grow to a size that is almost incredible. One,
the largest that seems to be on record, was situated on the island of Nogo in
Endeavour Straits, and measured no less than 150 feet in circumference ; and to form
this huge accumulation of materials the ground had been scraped bare in the vicinity,
even some shallow excavations having been made. The larger end was elevated 14
feet above the ground, and the slope measured in different directions 18, 21}, and
24 feet. Usually these mounds are formed of a light vegetable soil, but occasionally
they consist of sifted gravel intermixed with portions of soil and decayed wood, and
are generally conical in form; but one specimen was described as resembling a bank
from twenty-five to thirty feet in length, with an average height of five feet. Some
of these mounds are doubtless very ancient, and trees a foot in diameter have been
found growing from the centre of the mass. After a mound has been constructed, or
an old one rebuilt and arranged to suit them, the eggs are laid at a depth of five
to six feet from the surface, the hen scratching a hole in the vegetable matter for
the purpose. It is then covered and left. The eggs are always deposited at night,
and the holes in which they are placed generally run in an oblique direction so that
they are nearer the side of the mound than they are to the summit. The exact num-
ber laid by a hen is not known, but four have been taken at one time. After the hen
has laid her complement of eggs, they are left to be hatched by the heat of the decom-
posing mass, and the chick appears fully feathered and able to fly. How the young
make their way to the surface is a mystery, but once out they can take care of them-
selves very well. At first they remain about the mound, but in a few days they may
be found a long distance from it, and if disturbed they run off, or fly into some tree
for refuge. These mounds are always constructed in some dense thicket, never in the
open field, and it can generally be known when a bird has visited any one of them by
the tracks left upon its sides. The megapode never goes far inland, keeping about
the beach or along the banks of creeks. It feeds on roots, which it scratches up with
its powerful claws, seeds, berries, and insects. It is very shy and rarely seen. The
flight is heavy and not continued, and generally, when disturbed, the bird takes refuge
inatree. At night they keep up a noisy cackling, and utter a hoarse note during the
day. The eggs are white, but after being deposited, a crust, colored somewhat ac-
cording to the soil in which it is placed, forms upon the shell, which, however, readily
chips off. They vary in size, but are about 3} by 2} inches, and both ends are
equal. The Australian megapode is about the size of a common fowl. They possess
a complete, thick, and muscular gizzard. The Nicobar megapode, If nicobariensis,
seems to differ slightly in certain of its habits from the Australian species, for the
natives state that a pair and all its progeny use and add to a mound year after year,

BRUSH-TURKEYS. 231

and that out of one of these, about five feet high and sixteen or eighteen feet in diam-
eter, as many as twenty eggs had been taken in one month.

Leipoa ocellata, the other generic form of this sub-family, also possesses this curious
habit of mound-building, but the eggs are deposited in a very different manner from
that related of the Australian megapode, Instead of being placed in holes in differ-
ent parts of the mound, they are laid in the centre, all at the same depth and arranged
in a circle about three inches apart, with the small end downwards, and eight eggs
are about the largest number in one nest. The mounds of this bird are also con-
structed somewhat differently. A hole is first scratched in the soil, and this filled
with dead leaves, grass, and similar materials, and then a huge mass of a similar sub-
stance is raised about it. Over this a quantity of sand mixed with dried grass is
thrown until the whole assumes the conical form. When an egg is laid, a receptacle
having been made for it at the edge of the hole in the centre, it is at once covered up.
A second is laid on the same plane, but on the opposite side ; the third is placed at the
third corner, and the fourth opposite to it, and then the succeeding ones in the inter-
stices left, so that the complement forms a circle. The young are said to dig them-
selves out, and the mother, who is always near, takes entire charge of the brood, the
young remaining with her until half grown. The Leipoa is a slender and rather
gracefully formed bird, with short legs and is about twenty-four inches in length.

The sub-family Telegallinz has three genera, Megucephalon, Talegallus, and Apy-
podius, the first with one species, the second with four, and the last with two. The
interesting bird known as Megacephalon maleo is a native of Celebes, and is confined
to the littoral parts of the island. It abounds in the forests, and feeds on fruits, de-
scending to the sea-beach in the months of August and September to deposit its eggs.
This bird does not raise a mound as the megapodes do, as its feet are not formed for
grasping, and the claws are short and straight, but it excavates holes in the sand four
or five feet in diameter, and in these, at a depth of one or two feet, the eggs are de-
posited. There are sometimes as many as eight eggs in one hole, each laid by a sep-
arate bird. The eggs, for the size of the species, are enormous, being 4.3 inches long
and 2.4 inches wide, and of a pale brownish red. The egg quite fills the lower cavity
of the bird’s body, and about thirteen days elapse between the laying of each egg,
After they are all deposited, the hen pays no further attention to them, and the
young, on emerging from the shell, dig themselves out, and run off into the adjoining
forest. ‘The maleo is a handsome bird, the upper parts and tail being glossy black, and
the under parts rosy white. The head and neck are bare, and on the head is a kind
of helmet formed by the backward prolongation of the cranium into a cellular mass.

The four species of Valegallus are the well-known T. lathami of Australia, and the
T. cuvieri, T. jobiensis and 7. fuscirostris of New Guinea and some of the other
islands of the eastern archipelago. They construct mounds similar to those of the
megapodes, but several females deposit their eggs together, and it is said that nearly
half a bushel of eggs have been procured in the same mound. The natives state that
the mound is always opened by the male when the hens desire to lay, and the eggs
are placed in a circle with the thin end downwards. When stalking about the woods
the talegallus utters a loud clucking noise and runs rapidly through the brush when
disturbed, or takes refuge in a tree. It is nearly as large as a female turkey, and has
the upper surface, wings, and tail blackish-brown ; under surface blackish-brown, the
feathers silver-gray at the tip; skin of the head and neck deep pink red, sprinkled
with short, blackish-brown feathers; wattle, bright yellow. The female resembles the

232 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

male, but is smaller. The third genus, 4AJpypodius, has two species from New Guinea
and Waigu; but little is known of them.

The second family of this sub-order is the Cracin, divided into three sub-families,
with between fifty and sixty species. They are inhabitants of the tropical portions of
the New World, and although there is no important difference in their osteological
structure and that of the Megapodide, they are entirely different in their economy

F1G. 110. — Talegallus lathanu, brush-turkey.

and habits. While the megapodes are terrestrial birds, passing the greater portion of
their existence upon the ground, the Cracide are essentially arboreal, build nests in
the trees, and incubate their eggs like true birds.

The first sub-family, Oreophasinw, with its single species, Oreophasis d rbyanus, is
a native of Guatemala and the woods of the Volean de Fuego to a heicht of 10,000
feet. It is apparently rare even in the localities it frequents, and not much is known of
its habits, beyond the fact that it frequents the upper branches of the forest trees,

CURASSOWS. 233

searching for fruit, which it eats whether ripe or unripe, and, as the day advances,
descends to the under-wood, where it remains scratching among the leaves. It is a very
handsome species, having the upper parts black, with blue reflections ; a broad white
band across the middle of the tail; breast white, striped with black ; throat, abdomen,
and thighs black; the bill yellow; a vertical, moderately-high helmet, composed of
bony tissues, upon the top of the head, is red, as are also the legs and feet. The female
is like the male, but smaller.

Penelopine contains seven genera, Ortalis, Chamcepetes, Aburria, Pipile, Penelo-
pina, Penelope, and Stegnolema. This sub-family contains among its species the
smallest of the Cracid, and they range in total length from sixteen inches to twenty-
six inches, those of the least size belonging to the genus Ortalis. They are found
from southern Texas through Mexico, Central America, and South America to Para-
guay. They are graceful birds, with long tails and variegated plumage, with bare
skin on the throat or around the eyes, or both, and the heads decorated in certain
species with various kinds of crest. Like all of the Cracide they are forest birds,
dwelling much upon the trees, and descending to the ground in search of food. Ortalis
vetula has been procured in Texas, and has been remarked for its loud and peculiar
ery, which in harshness and compass is fully equal to that of the Guinea fowl. At
sunrise the male, on descending from the tree where he has passed the night, mounts
upon some old log and commences his clear ery, which is taken up by the female, and
so one pair after another join in the chorus, until the whole woods ring with their
voices. After this morning song of praise has terminated, the birds separate to seek
their early meal. If surprised when thus occupied, they fly into the trees and salute
the intruder with many croaks. The seven or eight white eggs are deposited in a nest
on the ground at the root of a tree or side of a log, where a hole has been scratched
several inches deep. This is lined with leaves, and the eggs are always carefully cov-
ered when the hen goes away for the purpose of obtaining food. The O. leucogastra
is abundant in parts of Central America, and makes its nest of twigs, in a low bush;
the young run as soon as freed from the shell, and, clinging to the branches of the
underwood, are very nimble and difficult to capture.

The species of Chamcepetes have the throat feathered, the circlet of the eye and the
lores are, however, naked. It issaid that C. wnicolor, when flying in a downward direc-
tion, produces a loud rushing noise similar to the drumming sound of the snipe, when,
after rising to a great height, it descends towards the ground with great velocity on
stiffened wings. The single species of the genus Aburria is a dark-green bird, with
copper reflections on its plumage, and is remarkable for the pendant wattle at the lower
part of the throat. It isa native of New Granada. The members of the four other
genera are rather large birds, the throat of most of the species being destitute of
feathers, and the skin dilatable; the plumage is bright, or of a quasi-metallie col-
oring, and tails are long and ample.

The last sub-family, Cracine, contains the curassows, large, handsome birds,
dwellers in the thick forests, where they rest and roost upon the highest limbs of the
trees. There are four genera, Pauxis, Mitua, Nothocraxr, and Crax, the various sec-
tions distinguished by certain characteristics, such as a bony helmet, swelling at the
highest point into a club shape, and rising over the base of the bill and forehead, but
no crest, seen in the first-named genus; a swelling of the base of the culmen, and a
short, feathery-crest, witnessed in Mitua ; a bare loral space and straggling, thin crest,
extending from the forehead down the back of the neck, of the single species of Notho-

234 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

craz, and the full-feathered recurved crest, swollen culmen, and fleshy wattles pendant
from the base of the mandible of the species of Crax. The plumage is mostly black
and white; the females, when they do differ from the males, which is but seldom, being
generally rufous on the underparts, with the back and wings mottled with light brown
or white. The curassows inhabit Central and South America, only one species, Craa
globicera, being found north of Panama, ranging into western Mexico. othocrax
urumutum is said to have one habit which causes it to differ from all other members

Fic. 111. — Craz alector, crested curassow.

of the sub-family, and one which makes the bird extremely difficult to capture, and
this is, its custom of living in burrows or holes in the ground. The natives state that
it remains in its place of concealment during the day, coming out at night and ascend-
ing to the top branches of the loftiest trees in search of food. The Indians take up
their positions in the forest where they first hear the birds, remaining all night, and
shoot them just before sunrise as they descend to return to their underground abodes.
All the curassows have very gentle and confiding dispositions, are easily tamed, breed
well in captivity, and in their native countries are frequently kept by the inhabitants

SAND-GROUSE. 235

and allowed to run with barnyard fowls. They go in considerable flocks; their nests
are large and rather clumsy affairs, built of sticks, leaves, and grass; the eges are white
and rather large ; and the birds themselves are much sought after for the table, as
their flesh is delicate and palatable, similar to that of the turkey. With this group
the list of the species properly considered as belonging to the order Galline ends.
The species, as will have been observed, are very numerous and of great variety, and
form one of the most —if not, indeed, the most — important group of birds in the
entire range of ornithology.

ORDER XIII.—PTEROCLETES.

The sand-grouse, which form this order, have usually been included by naturalists
in the order Galline, but the obvious impropriety of this has at length been conceded,
and they are now elevated to a distinct order, lying between the Alectoromorphz on
the one hand and the Peristeromorphe on the other. They resemble the first of these
great groups in their skull, palatines, maxillo-palatines, and bill; and the second in
their pterygoid and basipterygoid processes, sternum, fureula, coracoid, and fore-
limbs. The feet, with its short hallux, entirely wanting in Syrrhaptes, and the short
tarso-metatarsus, are very unlike a pigeon’s. The vocal organs are pigeon-like; the
trachea is cartilaginous, with a pair of laryngeal muscles at its bifurcation; but the
crop, gizzard, gall-bladder, and small intestines are like those of Gallinaceous birds.
The ceca coli are yoluminous, and have twelve continuous longitudinal folds in their
mucous membrane. The pterylosis differs somewhat from that of the pigeon. The
lateral neck-spaces reach only to the beginning of the neck; the superior wing-space
is absent; the lumbar tracts coalesce with the posterior part of the dorsal tract, and
the latter joins the plumage of the tibia. The sand-grouse possess an after-shaft on
the contour feathers, thus differing from the pigeons, and, unlike the Gallinaceous
birds, have a naked oil-gland. In some characters these birds are plover-like, but they
drink like a pigeon, thrusting the bill up to the nostril into the water, and retaining it
there until the thirst is satisfied.

The family Prerocim is composed of two genera, Pterocles and Syrrhaptes, the
species of which resemble each other in their general shape, having a rather heavy
body, long, pointed wings, and extremely short legs and toes. They are awkward
birds upon the ground, but move rapidly and gracefully on the wing. Pterocles has
the tarsi feathered in front, and in Syrrhaptes both tarsi and toes are completely
covered with feathers. In the osteology of these genera considerable differences are
observable. The skull of Syrrhaptes is more pigeon-like than Pterocles ; the upper
frontal region is narrower between the eyes, and the ale of the ethmoid are less
swollen between the crura of the nasal. In Pterocles the bones of the face are strong
like a pigeon’s; the lower jaw bends farther back; the postorbital and squamosal
processes and the malar arch are also stronger. The scapula is grouse-like, and there
is one more caudal vertebra than in Syrrhaptes, and the styliform and sacral ribs
have no appendage, but both genera have a rudiment attached to the last hamapo-
physis. The sternum of Pterocles has the episternum and hyosternal processes as in
Syrrhaptes ; but the external hyposternal processes are shorter. The species of sand-
grouse are inhabitants of Asia, India, and Africa, especially of the last continent,
where twelve of the sixteen or eighteen recognized species are found. J’terocles
comprises the great majority of known forms, Syrrhaptes having only two species.

236 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

They have a very beautiful plumage, the back generally mottled with brown, black,
yellow, white, or rufous; the breast sometimes barred with black, white, red, or rich
buff, and the lower parts deep buff, chestnut, black, or barred with black and white.
Syrrhaptes differs in the feathered tarsi and toes, as already mentioned, in the extremely
lengthened pointed wings, the first primaries of one species, S. paradoxus, being
attenuated, and the median rectrices of both species are lengthened and filamentous.
They are both Asiatic birds, but in 1863 great numbers of S. paradoxus suddenly,
from some cause never explained, invaded Europe and proceeded as far as Ireland in
the west, the Faroes in the north, and Perpignan in France on the south. In and
about Pekin and Tientsin they go in flocks of many hundred individuals, flying swiftly

FG, 112, — Pterocles alchata, sand-grouse

like plover, and, although shy when on the ground, yet on the wing will pass within a few
yards of an observer. When flying, the species utters a note resembling “truck turuck,”
and, like all of the family, are accustomed to visit certain drinking-places every morn-
ing and evening. They feed chiefly on seeds, and deposit their eggs in the sand.
The female does not sit very closely, and leaves her eggs exposed to the weather
when she goes to drink, for these birds cannot exist long without water. The other
species, S. thibetanum, resembles its relative in its habits, is a native of Thibet, as its
name implies, and, when flying, utters a cry like “ caga caga.”

The species of Pterocles resembles also very much, in their economy and _ habits,

those of the species of the genus Syrrhaptes, frequenting sandy tracts, sometimes in

PIGEONS. 237

bush or tree-jungle, and in Africa, the great desert of Sahara or other similar regions.
Some exhibit considerable pugnacity, the males continually skirmishing among them-
selves. The flesh is not very much esteemed, being generally dry and of little or no
flavor. When approaching their drinking-places, they are very cautious, and circle
about the water several times before alighting, and remain only a few moments. On
such occasion, they sometimes congregate in many thousands, but disperse, after allay-
ing their thirst, to seek for food. The eggs are usually cream-color, spotted with
brownish, and three to ten in number. The young run from the period they emerge
from the shell.

ORDER XIV.—COLUMB&.

The well-known birds, pigeons and doves, which constitute this order have such a char-
acteristic physiognomy that any one, whether a naturalist or not, can at once accord them
their proper designation. They are possessed of a moderate size, straight or slightly
curved bill, the basal portion covered with a soft, fleshy membrane (this being frequently
tumid or bulged into a prominence) in which the nostrils are situated. The apical
portion varies much in shape among the different species, being slender or stout,
slightly or greatly curved. The gape is wide. The wings are long and pointed in
most species, only the ground-pigeons having short or rounded wings, and some have
the first primary falcate or sickle-shaped ; others again have this feather notched, as in
the Faleconide. The tail is even, rounded, or wedge-shaped, usually long, and contains
from twelve to twenty feathers. The coloring of these rectrices is frequently of
striking contrasts, and they contribute greatly to the beauty of outline and general
appearance of the birds. The eyes are large, set well back from the bill, and often of
bright colors. The tarsi are short and stout, feathered in a few species, bare in the
rest, and covered in front with small scales. The feet are rather large, the toes
divided to the base, except in some arboreal species which have the outer toe slightly
joined to the middle one; the soles are rather broad and flat. Pigeons also possess
certain peculiarities in their internal anatomy to separate them from other orders,
such as the narrow sternum, with two notches on each side, the outer one deep, the
inner often reduced to a foramen, and they have a deep keel for the attachment of the
large pectoral muscles. The furculum is flat and without appendages; the gizzard
very muscular; intestines long and slender, with minute cwca. The crop is large and
double, becomes glandular in the breeding season, secreting a milky fluid which
moistens the food upon which the young are nourished. There is in some species no
gall-bladder, but others possess it. The feathers, unlike those of the members of
Rasores, do not possess the supplementary plume.

Pigeons are monogamous, both sexes occupying themselves with nest-building,
incubation, and rearing the young. The nests are loosely constructed, and never more
than two eggs are laid, always pure white in hue. The young are born naked, blind
and helpless, and are assiduously cared for by their parents, who feed them with the
moistened food from their crops. Pigeons eat fruit, seeds, and grain; and drink by a
continuous draught, immersing the bill to the nostrils in the water. In this habit
they differ from all other known birds. The lower larynx is furnished with two pairs
of muscles, and the voice is soft and plaintive, either a kind of coo ora rolling whistle.

The birds of this order are found all over the world, most numerous in the eastern
hemisphere, especially in the islands of the archipelagoes and in Australia. About

238 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

three hundred species are recognized, divided by some writers into many genera, all
haying agreeably colored plumage, and many are clothed in feathers of most brilliant
and opposite hues, varied in numerous instances with bright metallic coloration.
The general form of the pigeon is rounded and heavy for the size of the birds, the
flesh plump and tender, affording excellent food for man. ‘The order Columba may
properly be divided into five families, — Carpophagide, Columbid, Gouridw, Didun-
culide, and Didiide. The last differs in so many respects, however, that it might
with some propriety be advanced to a sub-order. The Didiide is first to be consid-
ered in reversing the arrangement given above, as in an ascending scale they occupy
the lowest rank.

There are two authenticated species of the family Dinnp, representing, however,
very distinct genera, viz., the familiar dodo, Didus ineptus, of the islands of Rodriguez,
Bourbon, and Mauritius; and
the. solitaire, Pezophaps soli-
taria, also of Rodriguez and
Mauritius. Both of these
curious and gigantic birds
are now extinct. A second
species of dodo was described
as D. mazarenus, from a met-
atarsal bone, but it is now
considered, at least by some
naturalists, doubtful if this
remnant, although much lar-
ger than similar bones of
D. ineptus, really does repre-
sent a distinct species. The
dodo was a huge ungainly
bird, incapable of flight, and
weighing between forty and
fifty pounds. It was quite
abundant in Mauritius in the
commencement of the 17th
century, and great numbers
were killed by sailors for
food. The testimony given

FAG, 113. — Didus ineptus, dodo. as to the quality of its flesh
varies somewhat, but the ver-
dict would appear to be that it was not very palatable. A live bird was in London in
1638, and its portrait was taken by several artists, the pictures being preserved to-day
in different museums in England and on the continent. In 1644 the Dutch introduced
dogs and hogs into the island, and these, by destroying the young of the dodo, prob-
ably contributed greatly towards its extermination, and in 1693 or thereabout these
curious birds became extinct. But few remains of the dodo are preserved, only one
or two nearly perfect skeletons and a number of different bones, the majority of
which were discovered in a small swamp in the island of Mauritius, called la Mare aux
Songes.
From a careful study and comparison of these remains it is proved that this

SOLITAIRE. 239

species was most nearly allied to the pigeons of all known birds. Its general appear-
ance is described by several of the early voyagers in their quaint manner, and Bontius
writes of it as follows: “The Dronte or Dodaers is for bigness of mean size between
an ostrich and a turkey, from which it partly differs in shape and partly agrees with
them, especially with the African Ostriches if you consider the rump quills and
feathers ; so that it was like a pigmy among them if you regard the shortness of its
legs. It hath a great ill-favoured head, covered with a kind of membrane resembling
a hood; great black eyes; a bending prominent fat neck, an extraordinary long,
strong, bluish-white bill, only the ends of each mandible are of a different colour, that
of the upper black, that of the nether yellowish, both sharp-pointed and crooked. Its
gape, huge wide, as being naturally very voracious. Its body is fat and round, coy-
ered with soft gray feathers after the manner of an ostrich; in each side, instead of
hard wing-feathers or quills, it is furnished with small soft-feathered wings of a
yellowish-ash colour; and behind the rump instead of a tail, is adorned with five small
curled feathers of the same colour. It hath yellow legs, thick, but very short; four
toes in each foot ; solid, long, as it were scaly, armed with strong black claws. It is
a slow-paced and stupid bird, and which easily becomes a prey to the fowlers. The
flesh, especially of the breast, is fat, esculent, and so copious that three or four dodos
will sometimes suffice to fill one hundred seamen’s bellies. If they be old, or not well
boiled, they are of difficult concoction, and are salted and stored up for provision of
victual. There are found in their stomachs stones of an ash colour, of divers figures
and magnitudes, yet not bred there, as the common people and seamen fancy, but
swallowed by the bird; as though by this mark also nature would manifest that these
fowls are of the ostrich kind, in that they swallow any hard things though they do not
digest them.”

The dodo laid but one large egg and the nest was only a heap of fallen leaves
loosely gathered together. Sir T. Herbert, who saw this bird in 1625, was not in any
way favorably impressed with it, as he says, “ her body is round and fat, which ocea-
sions the slow pace, or that her corpulence, and so great as few of them weigh less
than fifty pounds; meat it is with some, but better to the eye than stomach, such as
only a strong appetite can vanish.”

The ‘solitaire’ or ‘solitary,’ Pezophaps solitaria, was also of large size, somewhat
taller than a turkey, and said to weigh forty-five pounds. Leguat, in his voyage to the
East Indies, published in 1708, gives the following description of the bird. “The
feathers of the male are of a brown-gray colour; the feet and beak are like a Turkey’s,
but a little more crooked. They have scarce any tail, but their hind part covered
with feathers is roundish. Their neck is straight and a little longer in proportion
than a Turkey’s when it lifts up its head. Its eye is black and lively, and its head
without comb or cop. They never fly, their wings are too little to support the weight
of their bodies; they serve only to beat themselves, and flutter when they call one
another. They will whirl about twenty or thirty times together on the same side dur-
ing the space of four or five minutes. The motion of their wings makes then a noise
very like that of a rattle, and one may hear it two hundred paces off. The bone of
the wing grows greater towards the extremity, and forms a little round mass under
the feathers as big as a musket ball. That and its beak are the chief defence of the
bird. It is very hard to catch it in the woods, but easier in open places, because we
run faster than they and sometimes we approach them without much trouble. From
March to September they are extremely fat and taste admirably well, especially while

240 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

they are young. The female has a sort of peak, like a widow’s, upon the breast
(lego beaks), which is of a dun color. No one feather is straggling from the other all
over their bodies, they being very careful to adjust themselves and make them all even
with their beaks. The feathers on their thighs are round like shells at the end, and
being there very thick have an agreeable effect.” Another writer states that there is
also a frontal band resembling black velvet. It laid one egg once a year, and lived on
seeds and leaves of trees. Its flesh was good. In 1865 Mr. George Jenner procured
a large number of bones of this species, eighty-one in all, in the caves on the island of
Mauritius. They were apparently the remains of no less than sixteen or seventeen

FIG, 114. — Didunculus strigirostris, tooth-billed pigeon.

individuals and, from the disparity in size, were supposed to represent opposite sexes.
They all appeared to belong to birds that had been eaten by men or quadrupeds.

The family DipuncuLip possesses but one species, the curious bird known as
Didunculus strigirostris, or tooth-billed pigeon. It is a native of the Samoan or Nay-
igator’s Islands, where alone it is found, and is known to the inhabitants as manu- -mett,
or red-bird, from the chief color of its plumage, which is chocolate-red. It feeds on
plantains and the fruit of a species of Dioscorea or yam, and is very shy and timid.
It is a ground-dweller, roosting on stumps and bushes, and buil ling its nests in such
situations. Both sexes assist in the duty of incubation, and are so intent in this
occupation that they suffer themselves at times to be ¢ aptured by hand from the nest.
The Didunculus is possessed of considerable power of wing, and flies through the air
with a loud noise, which, as stated by one observer, is so great, when the bird rises,

PIGEONS. 241

that at a distance it might be mistaken for distant thunder. This species was sup-
posed to be rapidly becoming extinct, as its terrestrial habits made it an easy prey to
predatory animals, such as cats and rats introduced into the islands from European
vessels; but late accounts state that it has changed its habits, feeding and roosting
exclusively upon high trees, and is increasing in numbers. It is in this way, through
the struggle for existence, that habits which have been transmitted from parent to
offspring through unknown series of generations, are suddenly abandoned, and entirely

FiG. 115.— Goura victoria, crowned pigeon.

opposite ones adopted, that give the needed protection to life and continued prosperity,
which the inherited methods no longer are able to secure.

The peculiar bill of this species, having almost the characters of a rapacious bird, is
composed of a powerful curved maxilla; and a mandible provided near the tip with
two or three deep indentations, causing the parts between to appear like teeth.
Although generally stated by most writers to be a gentle, timid creature, hiding
whenever possible in the darkest portion of its cage, yet one in the possession of the

VOL. Iv. —16

242 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Rey. 8S. J. Whitmee, a male, was very savage, ruffled its feathers, and tried to bite any
one approaching it. He stated that he knew from experience that if it got hold of the
finger it gave a severe grip. It was placed in a large aviary with other birds, and
lorded it over the other inmates, only permitting them to feed when it had finished,
driving them about in a very savage manner. Some later writers have considered
that the proper position for this bird should be next to Zreron, but as the reasons given
do not seem to be thoroughly conclusive, it is best to leave it next to the dodo and its
kindred, where the majority of ornithologists have, up to the present time, considered
it should be placed.

The Gourtw comprises the great ground-pigeons, the largest and finest of existing
species. There are about six belonging to the genus Gowra, known by the trivial
name of crowned-pigeons, and remarkable for their great size and the high, open
crest with which the head is ornamented. They pass most of their time upon the
ground, walking in a majestic kind of way along the forest paths, flying, when disturbed,
to the lowest branches of the nearest trees, in which situations they pass the night.
They are natives of the Papuan Archipelago, where the absence of predatory animals
and searcity of large reptiles permit them to lead a comparatively secure life and breed
unmolested in the localities they frequent. They feed on fruits, and lay two eggs;
the nest is stated to be placed on the branches of trees. Some of the species have, at
different times, been inmates of the aviaries in various zoological gardens, where they
always attracted attention and admiration from their size, stately bearing, and the
harmonious coloring of their plumage. The earliest known species is the G. coronata.
Another even more beautiful is G. albertisii, from New Guinea, and G. victoria from
Jobi and Misori.

The Co.tumpip#, containing those pigeons whose long tarsi fit them more for a
terrestrial than an arboreal existence, and also the doves, comprises a great number
of species scattered all over the world, divided by different authors into many genera,
a large number of which can at the most only be considered of sub-generic value, and
many as entirely unnecessary, being of no value at all. Thirty-nine may be considered
as sufficiently established to require notice, and in this article a brief review of the
species they contain will be given.

The first is Otidiphaps, a genus created for the beautiful birds from New Guinea
and other of the Papuan Islands. Their exact position is not yet fully established,
some authors having placed them, with an expressed doubt, however, in the family
Didunculide, others in the Gouride. Of the two the latter is certainly more nearly
correct, but it would seem that the great crowned-pigeons are sufficiently characteristic
to stand in a family by themselves, and then Otidiphaps would occupy the position
here assigned it at the foot of the present family. Three species of this genus are
known, birds of considerable beauty of plumage and symmetry of form. They have
been so lately discovered that very little has been recorded about them, only two or
three Europeans ever having seen them alive. They are said to live in woods, feed
upon fruits, and one (0. nobilis) is said to have a strong voice like a megapode. The
flesh is white, tender, and most excellent for food. They are about eighteen inches in
length, with a plumage of green and blue, metallic about the neck, and chestnut on the
back. The tail contains the unusual number of twenty feathers.

The genus Hutrygon has but a single species (£. terristris), a native of Papua. It
is a handsome bird with a rather strong bill, and a plumage of a general dark leaden
gray. There is a white spot on the sides of the head; the back, rump, wings, and

PIGEONS. 243

tail, are shining grayish olive, sides and under tail-coverts rufous. It is a rare species
in museums, but not uncommon in the localities it frequents.

Starnenas, the next genus, contains also but a single species, S. cyanocephalus, the
blue-headed pigeon of Cuba, said sometimes to visit the Florida Keys. It is a hand-
some bird, of a general rich, chocolate hue, the top of the head bright blue, and the
throat, blackish, bordered with white. It lives upon the ground. Another genus
with a single species now follows, viz.: Calenas.

The C. nicobarica, which by some authors has been considered as representing a
separate family (called Cat@natip), is remarkable for the long plumes, like hackles,
which cover the neck and fall over the breast and back. It is widely distributed over
the eastern archipelago, feeds upon the ground, and, although it flies heavily, yet is

FIG. 116.— Starnenas cyanocephalus, blue-headed pigeon,

capable of making very extended journeys, it having been captured at sea a hun-
dred miles from New Guinea. Scattered generally throughout the Papuan Islands, it
is nowhere very abundant, remaining mostly on outlying islets, where it would be
free from the attacks of animals. This pigeon has bred in the aviary of the Zoologi-
eal Society of London, a pair having taken possession of an artificial nest and laid one
white egg, which, after having been incubated for twenty-eight days, produced a young
bird, black and naked. On the feathers appearing, those of the tail were black and
remained so, although these in the adults were pure white. This form was described
as distinct by Gray as C. gouldii.

Six or seven species are included in the next genus, Phlaganas; very attractive
birds from the Papuan and Samoan Islands, among the most beautiful of which P.

244 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

johanne and P. stairii, from the Duke of York and Samoan Islands respectively,
may be named. All the species possess fourteen tail-feathers.

‘The members of the genus Phaps are confined to Australia, where they are known
as the bronze-winged pigeons. They are distributed generally all oyer that continent,
are fine plump birds, weighing about a pound apiece, and afford excellent food. They
breed sometimes on the ground, sometimes in the fork of a tree, are exceedingly
swift in flight, and are capable of traversing great extent of country, during the sea-
son of drought, in search of water, in a very brief period of time. The species, of
which there are three, possess a very attractive plumage, and derive their trivial name
from the lustrous coppery bronze spots upon the coverts of the wing. ‘The tail con-

sists of sixteen feathers.

FiG, 117. — Callenas nicobarica, Nicobar pigeon.

Lophophaps and Geophaps are also also Australian genera, the first containing
three, and the last two species. The members of Lophophaps are lovely birds, having,
as their generic name implies, a long crest rising from the centre of the head, the
back and wings being crossed with rusty-red and brown bands, and metallic bronzy-
purple mark on the secondaries. They are small birds about eight inches long, con-
gregate on the ground, and rise, when disturbed, like quails, plunging immediately in
the long grass for concealment. The species of the other genus are larger birds, with
peculiar black and white markings on the face and throat in one (G@. seripta), and
orange black and white in the other G. smithii. They are strictly terrestrial in their
habits, and in their carriage and action similar to a partridge. They go at times in
pairs, but frequently in coveys, and, when approached, run and hide in the grass.
They rise with aloud noise and fly with great rapidity, taking refuge in the nearest
tree. The eggs are laid on the ground, but no nest is made.

PIGEONS. 245

The genus Leucosarcia, also confined to Australia, contains but one species, a large
handsome bird known as Z. picata, remarkable for the delicacy of its flesh. It
inhabits the brush which stretches along the line of coast of New South Wales, or
that covering the hillsides of the interior. It passes its time on the ground, rising
with the sudden burst and noise of a Gallinaceous bird, but does not remain long upon
the wing. It has a very pleasing plumage of slate-gray and white. The tail has
fourteen feathers.

Henicophaps, with its single species, ZZ. albifrons, is a genus restricted to the
Papuan Islands, but of a more extended distribution than some which are found in
that archipelago. It is a rather dull-looking bird, with a strong plover-like bill; the

aE, bar apes eam:

Fic. 118.— Ocyphaps lophotes, crested-pigeon, and Phaps chalcoptera, bronze-wing pigeon.

plumage fuscous rufous black, tinged with glossy green, the wing-coverts glossed
with a golden-copper hue, forehead white. Very little is known of the bird. It was
first procured by Wallace in Waigu, where it feeds from low trees and shrubs, but
does not appear to be altogether terrestrial.

Chaleophaps is a genus of brush pigeons, containing about a dozen species, which
feed upon the ground on seeds and berries. It is pretty widely dispersed, the species
being natives of India, Ceylon, Java, Borneo, Australia, Papuan and Philippine Islands,
and Formosa. They have a rich, glossy, mostly green plumage, and a very swiit flight.
The best-known species is probably the C. indica, found all over India where forests

exist, and all countries to the east of the Bay of Bengal, also throughout the islands

246 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

of the eastern archipelago. The back and wings are emerald green glossed with
gold; two dusky and two grayish bars cross the back and rump, and a white bar on
shoulder of the wing. Beneath the body is vinaceous red-brown, with ashy under
tail-coverts. This beautiful species feeds upon the ground, walks with a rapid gait,
and is seen usually alone. Another very beautiful species of this genus is the C
stephani from Celebes and the Papuan Islands.

The genus Petrophassa contains a singular species, ?. albipennis, an inhabitant
of the rugged and desolate portions of the coast of northwest Australia, where it is
common among the sandstone cliffs. It is a brown bird with black lores, and the
basal half of the primaries pure white. Another genus with a single species is
Ocyphaps, O. lophotes, also confined to Australia. It is a bird of much elegance
of form, with a long slender black crest flowing from the occiput. Its dress is gray
and olive-brown, with shining bronzy-green wing-coverts. Tail of fourteen feathers,
the two centre ones brown, remainder brown, glossed with green and tipped with
white. It dwells on the plains of the interior, assembles in very large flocks, and flies
with a rapidity unequalled by any member of the group to which it belongs.

South Africa presents us with another genus Zympanistria, having but one
species, the 7. bicolor. This is a very pretty bird with fuscous-brown back and wings
and white under parts. It is confined chiefly to the forest districts, and appears to
have certain powers of ventriloquism, throwing its voice to a distance so as to deceive
the hunter who may be standing under the very tree upon which the bird is perched.
Another African genus is Chalcopelia with three species, the best known of which is
probably C. afra. They are pretty little birds, the species just named being of a
beautiful vinaceous color on the breast and lower parts, and with some large brilliant
purple and green spots on the wings. It is common on the Okovango River, where it
constructs a nest of a few sticks placed in a bush or low tree, and so loosely put to-
gether that the two white eggs may be seen through the structure by any one looking
up from below.

Haplopelia was established for three or four species, two from Africa, and one
from St. Thomas and Prince’s Island respectively. The African birds ZZ. lavata and
HT. bronzina are beautiful species with considerable metallic gloss of green and copper
upon the plumage. They apparently prefer to keep in forests, feeding on berries, and
are not uncommon. The bird from St. Thomas (ZZ. simplex), as its name implies,
has not so highly colored a plumage as its relatives. By some authors these birds
are included in the genus Peristera.

We now come to a well-marked Central and South American genus with a few
offshoots among the islands of the West Indies, viz., Geotrygon, with a little over a
dozen species. They have a very stout form with a short rounded wing, the third
quill longest, the others abruptly sinuated on the outer edge; the first quill sickle-
shaped but not attenuated. These birds are from nine to twelve inches in length, of
avery attractive and harmonious plumage, and excellent as food. In the island of
Jamaica there are two species, known as ‘mountain witeh,’ and ¢ partridge-dove” They
are essentially ground birds, feeding on seeds and occasionally on slugs. They fre-
quent wooded parts of the country, and are wary and difficult to approach. In cer-
tain districts they are abundant, and the nest is a rude affair of a few dry leaves and
twigs gathered together. Two beautiful species of this genus are G. veraguensis and
G. lawrencei from Central America.

Leptoptila is another genus of about a dozen species, whose members have nearly

PIGEONS. 247

-

the same distribution as those of Geotrygon. They are birds of about the same size
as those of the last-named genus, and of very attractive appearance. The single
species from Jamaica, L. jumaicensis, is a very lovely bird, with a white forehead and
blue crown, neck reddish-brown, changing to amethyst, the lower feathers brilliant
green and purple. Under parts pure white, and a blue-gray tail tipped with white.
It lives on the ground, has a plaintive voice (the negroes interpreting its cooing tones
by the sounds “ rain-come-wet-me-through ”), and lives upon nuts and the seeds of the
orange, mango, ete. It is very gentle, and, when flushed, only flies for a short dis-
tance, generally to the branches of some low tree. It builds its nest generally in a
moderately high situation, and is known by the trivial name of “ white belly.”

Chameepelia, with some half-dozen species, contains the ground-doves, little crea-
tures which pass their time on the ground almost exclusively. The best known among
them is C. passerina, from southern North America, Mexico, Central America, and
Brazil. It goes in small groups of seldom more than a dozen, and prefers rather open
places, runs with great facility, keeping the tail elevated. It is an extremely gentle
bird, and readily becomes domesticated. It feeds on seeds of various grasses and
berries. The nest is placed in low bushes, and is composed of twigs and lined with
grasses. The flesh is excellent. The plumage is light, purplish-red on the neck,
breast, and flanks, with a brownish gray back; the tail is gray at the base, bluish
black towards the end, tipped with white. The female is similar to the male, but
paler in tint. The C. erythrothorax, from Bolivia and Peru, has been placed in a
distinct genus, Gymnopelia, on account of its nude orbits.

Columbula contains two species, according to some authors, confined to South
America, resembling the ordinary dove in form, and are of a brown plumage, with
lengthened tail. One (C. campestris), from the interior of Brazil, is a very graceful
bird, with a vinaceous breast, olive-brown back, and the lateral tail-feathers black
tipped with white.

Scardafella has also but two species scattered over Mexico, Guatemala, and Brazil.
They are known as the scaly-doves, from the distinct markings of the edge of their
feathers, and are diminutive representatives of the wild-pigeon (Zctopistes migratoria),
but do not possess the beautiful changeable hues that adorn the neck of that species.
Melopelia and Metriopelia, both possessing two species, are New World genera, their
species extending from Mexico southward, on the west coast of South America, to
Chili. They are plainly clad but gracefully shaped birds, MWelopelia leucoptera being
characterized by a large patch of white upon the wing, from which it derives its
name, while its relative, M. meloda, is dark blue around the eye. Jetropelia melanop-
tera has the wing blackish, with a white shoulder.

Zenaida, with some half-dozen species, is confined chiefly to the West Indies and
South America, with one member from the Galapagos Islands. The most familiar
species of this genus is probably the Z. amabilis, from the West Indies, occasionally
seen upon some of the Florida keys. In Jamaica, where it is not uncommon, it haunts
the open pastures, where any intruder can easily be discovered. It is wary and diffi-
cult of approach, and flies with great rapidity, making the peculiar whistling with the
wings so characteristic of so many doves. It subsists on various fruits and seeds,
and its flesh is white and much esteemed. The plumage is pleasing, though of sober
colors.

Peristera, as restricted by some writers, is also an American genus, of some four
species, found in Mexico and Brazil. The species have the usual coloring peculiar to

248 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

doves, P. cinerea being grayish blue on the head, neck, and back, and ashy white
below. The tail is slightly rounded, with the lateral feathers black. It is found in
Cayenne, Brazil, and Peru, also in Central America.

Turtur, to which we now come, is a rather extensive genus, containing something
like twenty-five or thirty species. They are scattered pretty generally over the Old
World, but the genus is not represented in the western hemisphere. The familiar

FiG. 119.— Turtur vulgaris, turtle-dove.

turtle-dove, 7. vulgaris, is a representative species of this genus. Inhabiting Europe
generally, it extends eastward into western Asia and southward into Africa. Timid
and retiring in disposition, it is universally accepted as the emblem of peace, and lives
in amity with all others of its race. While accustomed to frequent trees, it is also
at home upon the ground, where it walks with ease. It flies with great swiftness, and
turns and twists in its course with marvellous celerity, and pilots its way amid the
forest, even when at full speed, with extraordinary skill. When mated, the pair evince

PIGEONS. 249

great affection for Gach other, and should one die, the survivor exhibits his sorrow by
mournful cooing, and searches diligently for his companion. Like others of this
group, the turtle-dove feeds on seeds of various kinds, and grain, and inhabits districts
where fresh water is obtainable; always, when desirous of quenching its thirst, alight-
ing near the water in some open spot, and then walking down to the edge of the
stream or pond. The nest, a slight platform of twigs, is placed upon some convenient
branch, on which the two white eggs are deposited.

A very pretty species of Zurtur is the 7. semitorquatus (separated by some authers
in a genus, Streptopelia), from Senegal and the Gambia. The crown is bluish-ash, a
black semi-collar on back of neck; under plumage vinaceous ; belly and vent white
back, wings, and tail grayish-brown; a broad black bar crosses the tail, which is broad
and rounded, with the basal half black. A close ally to this last is the 7. albiventris,
from South Africa, very similar in plumage, but with the outside tail-feathers white.
This is a very abundant species, and bred, at least at one time, within the precincts of
Cape Town.

Without any very technical distinctions the doves are a well-marked group, the
chief character being the form of the tail. Their colors, though pleasing and harmo-
nious, lack the brilliant and often bright hues of the pigeons. They have a graceful
shape and small heads; the tail lengthened, rounded, or graduated.

Macropygia, containing about two dozen species, is confined to India, the Ma-
layan islands, and those of the eastern archipelago, and Australia. The birds are dis-
tinguished by their long, broad tails, are fruit-eaters to a certain extent, but also feed
on the ground, and in their color and general appearance more resemble doves
than pigeons. The genus has been subdivided by various authors into several
genera or sub-genera, such as Coceyzura, Turaceena, Reinwardiceena, and Strepto-
pelia, but for the present any consideration of these is unnecessary. The J. rein-
wardtsi, from the Moluccan and Papuan islands, is one of the finest of this group. It
has the forehead and sides of the head, neck, and middle of the breast pure white,
all the rest of head and body ashy white; back, scapulars, and two middle tail-
feathers reddish-chestnut ; primaries black; other tail-feathers are ash-color, with
black bases, and a black bar near the tip. There is also a nude skin around the eye.
Feet red. Total length about twenty inches. The general appearance of this bird is
very handsome, and the long graduated tail gives a very graceful shape to the body.
It is found in several of the Papuan and Molucean islands.

Another, IZ modesta, from Timor, is also a striking species of very different ap-
pearance from the one just described. It is, as its name implies, dressed in subdued
colors, but there are, over the general leaden hue of its plumage, metallic reflections of
green and purple. A lemon-yellow skin surrounds the eye, and the iris itself is red.
WM. leptogrammica, from Java, is very different again from both the species given,
haying the top of head and back or mantle metallic green with purple reflections;
similar but brighter reflections are seen upon the throat and breast. The back, wing-
coverts, rump, and the six large feathers of the tail are ferruginous, banded trans-
versely with black. The other tail-feathers are ashy at their base, then black, and
tipped with grayish blue; the tail is long and graduated; the throat and belly are
pale lilac, and under tail-coverts red. The total length is fifteen inches. This species
lives on the summit of high rocky elevations in wooded districts, and feeds on peppers
and grain and various aromatic seeds, which communicate to the flesh a very agree-
able taste, causing it to be highly esteemed for food.

250 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The only member of this genus found in Australia is J. phasianella, which has a
rich, rusty-brown plumage, with the sides and back of the neck glossed with bronzy-pur-
ple; the lateral tail-feathers crossed near the tip by a broad black band; the iris, blue,
with an outer circle of scarlet; the feet, pinkish-red. The pheasant-tailed pigeon, as it
is called, resorts entirely to the brush from Illawarra to Moreton Bay, where it is
common. It spends much of its time on the ground, searching for seeds, usually four
or five birds being in company. When on the wing, with its broad, lengthened tail
spread to the fullest extent, it appears to the greatest advantage. It is of about the
same size as the preceding species.

Geopelia, our next genus, is composed of about six species, four being natives of

Australia, some of which, together with the remaining members of the genus, being
found in different Molucean and Papuan islands. In Australia they inhabit the hills
and extensive plains of the interior, passing much of their time upon the ground,
They are small birds, with a modest plumage destitute of metallic coloring. The tails
are long and graduated, and they have rather lengthened legs, to fit them for their
terrestrial life. The G. humeralis is one of the most elegant of these graceful crea-
tures, and is extremely abundant at Port Essington, inhabiting swampy grounds and
banks of running streams. Its food is seeds of various grasses and berries, and it is
very gentle, flitting from one branch to another when disturbed. The head, sides of
neck, and breast are delicate gray; back, wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts,
brown; feathers of back of neck rufous banded with black on the ends; two middle
tail-feathers, dark-gray, rest reddish-brown at base, and largely tipped with white.
This is the largest species of the genus. G. cuneata, also from Australia, is a beautiful
little species, which makes a frail but pretty nest from the stalks of flowering grasses,
crossed and woven together. One was composed of a small species of Composita,
and placed on the overhanging grasses of Nanthorrhea. This bird is called by the
natives men-na-brunka, from a traditionary idea that it introduced the men-na, a gum
which exudes from an Acacia, a favorite article of food of the aborigines. Another
species, G. mauget, is found in the Moluccan and Papuan islands; it differs from the
rest in having the entire under parts whitish, barred with black.

South Africa presents us with a distinct genus, na, containing a single beauti-
ful species, 2. capensis. The forehead, cheeks, chin, throat, and chest are glossy
black; upper parts, ash-color; secondaries, bluish with a purple spot ; wing-feathers,
deep-red, edged with brown; a white bar extends across the rump, succeeded by a
narrow black one; the tail is long and graduated. These birds are very abundant,
and are chiefly terrestrial in their habits. In the Karroos they breed in the mimosa
bushes. They generally go in pairs, feed on seeds, and the eggs have a rosy tint from
the thinness of the shells. The young at first are mottled.

Zenaidura is well represented by its familiar species, the Carolina dove of North
and Central America, the Z. carolinensis of authors. This bird is distributed through-
out the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but does not pass further north
on the eastern sea-board than southern New England. In its habits it does not differ
from other dove-like species, save that its method of nesting depends somewhat upon
circumstances ; it deposits its eggs on the ground in many sections of the country,
but in districts where many venomous reptiles abound, the nest is placed on cacti and
thorny bushes, which afford such protection, by their numerous spines, that even
snakes can hardly climb them. This gentle bird is a gleaner of the fields, doing little
or no damage, but picking up such seeds and grain as may be on the ground. It

$

PIGEONS. 951

flies with great rapidity and power, and with a whistling sound of the wings, twisting
frequently in its flight, and threading its way among the branches, wheneyer it enters
the woods, with unerring certainty. It possesses a graceful form and a soft voice,
and although no brilliant colors are seen on its plumage, its modest, quaker-like garb
is very pleasant to look upon. Two or three other species of the genus have been
described, some of doubtful value.

Next to this group comes Zcctopistes, with its single species, the well-known
£. migratoria, the wild or passenger-pigeon. At one time this bird was extremely
common in North
America, passing over
vast portions of the
country in flocks of
such incredible num-
bers that they would
obseure the sky, and
take a long time, some-
times days, to fly by
any particular place,
notwithstanding the
enormous speed with
which they pursued
their course. This ra-
pidity of flight has
been estimated to
reach between seven-
ty and a hundred miles
an hour, and is an es-
sential qualification
for this species, for
their numbers being
so great, they are com-
pelled to pursue a con-
stant migration, as it
were, insearch of food,
and it therefore is of
prime necessity that
they should be able to
pass over a large ex-

tent of country in a Fia, 120. — Ectopistes migratorius, passenger-pigeon,

short period of time.

Their form is most admirably adapted for aerial progression, being an elongated oval
propelled by long, well-proportioned wings, moved by large and powerful muscles, and
steered by a long, graduated, fully-equipped tail. The limits of this article do not per-
mit any extended account of this bird, and therefore only a few words can be written of
its roosting-places. These are generally in forests where the trees are large, and but
little undergrowth occurs. These roosts have been known to extend for a distance of
forty miles in length and several miles in breadth. The trees in this tract would be
loaded down with nests, crowded closely together, so that large branches have been

252 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

known to break and fall from the weight of the birds gathered on them. The flocks
depart at sunrise and return at night, for they must go great distances to find food
sufficient to supply their needs. The arrival of the great host is an impressive sight.
Long before their crowded ranks appear, their approach is heralded by a sound
resembling the rising of a gale of wind, increasing in loudness until the birds hurl
themselves into their chosen nightly abode, when the din caused by the flapping of
myriads of wings, the struggles for a place upon the trees, the constant change
of position, and the crashing of overloaded branches, is so completely overpowering
that not only the human voice cannot be heard, but even the discharge of a gun
would pass unnoticed. At one time these roosts were not uncommon, but they are
gradually disappearing, for the wild-pigeon, like all other game, from lack of wise
and requisite protection in the United States, is being brought slowly but surely to
its final extermination. Such is a brief and cursory review of one of the most
extraordinary customs of this beautiful species. Lack of space compels us to pass on
te the next genus of the family.

This is Janthenas, containing eight or ten species; birds of rich and handsome
plumage, having considerable metallic lustre. They are inhabitants of the Moluccan,
Papuan, and Polynesian islands. One species, Z. ianthina, found in Japan, is not unlike
in plumage a species (J. metallica) from Timor. This last is remarkable for the metallic
hues of its plumage, which are lustrous greenish-purple, with various brilliant reflections.
Another species from the Fijis— Z. vitiensis—has the entire plumage bluish ash
color, with a metallic purple lustre, changing to bright green on head and neck; the
back, rump, and breast also metallic green, with the wing and upper tail-coverts edged
and tipped with the same. The throat is white. This beautiful bird is not uncommon
in the Fiji Islands, where it is seen in parties of three or four. It is about fourteen
inches in length.

A species from several of the Papuan Islands has been placed in a distinct genus,
and called Gymnophaps albertisii, on account of a bare space around the eye, large
feet like Carphophaga, and some other characters. In some parts of New Guinea this
species is rather rare, but small parties of eight or ten were seen on the Fly River. It
is only lately that this bird has been brought to the notice of naturalists.

. The last genus of the family Columbidx is Columba, formed by Linneeus, and con-
taining a large number of species found throughout certain portions of the Old and
the New World. It is characterized chiefly by a moderate bill, with the basal half of
the maxilla covered with a soft cartilaginous substance; the apical half hard, arched,
and hooked at the tip. The nostrils are placed towards the middle of the bill, and the
skin is swollen above them. The wings are moderate and pointed, the tail rather
short, even, or rounded, the toes moderate and free at the base. The genus has been
sub-divided by authors into many sections, but it is not necessary to notice these in
this article. The birds of this genus go in flocks of various magnitude, sometimes
performing migrations of more or less extent, according to the diversity of climate.
They frequent woods and feed on acorns, beech-nuts, or seek grain in the cultivated
fields. Some species again dwell among rocks, making their nests in holes or fissures
in the sides of precipitous cliffs. There are many large and stately species comprised
in the genus, and some of very beautiful and attractive plumage. Only a few can be
noticed here. One of the best known is probably the C. wnas, or stock-pigeon of
Europe. It is about thirteen inches in length, of a general bluish gray plumage, with
the sides of head and neck glossed with metallic green. Breast vinous red. It is a

‘
4

PIGEONS. 253

graceful bird, walks on the ground with ease, and rises on the wing without much loud
flapping. It will raise two or three broods in a season, placing its nest in the hollow
of a tree, sometimes in rabbit-burrows or other convenient holes in the ground.
Both sexes incubate and assist in rearing their young. It feeds on various grains and
seeds, and when numerous is very troublesome to farmers.

A remarkably colored pigeon of this genus is C. leuconota from the northwest
Himmalehs. The back, neck, and rump are white; the top of head and ear-coverts

Fic. 121. — Columba enas, stock-pigeon, and C. palumbus, ring-dove.

ashy black, wings brownish gray, crossed with three or four dusky bars. Tail ashy
black, crossed by a broad grayish white bar. This is the snow-pigeon and imperial
rock-pigeon of sportsmen. It frequents rocky heights and sequestered valleys from an
altitude of 10,000 feet to the snow level. It feeds in the fields, returning to the rocks
to roost, and is shy and wary. (©. guinea and C. arquatrix (sometimes placed in a
genus called Sticteenas), are African species of about twelve inches in length, the
former with a cinereous or plumbeous plumage, with the neck, breast, back, shoulders
and wing-coverts vinaceous, the latter spotted with white; the tail is black. It is a

254 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

rock-dweller, placing its nest in inaccessible places in caves and in the holes of cliffs.
The other species has the forehead, chin, neck, and breast dark vinaceous, mottled
with black; above dark ashy with a reddish tinge on back and shoulders, and a
greenish hue on the tail. This bird congregates in great flocks, and feeds upon wild
olives and berries according to the season. It breeds on trees in mountain ravines.

The white-crowned pigeon, C. leucocephala, from the West Indies and Florida, is
a handsome bird, remarkable for the pure white of the upper part of the head. The
general color is dusky blue, the top of neck behind chocolate brown, lower part green
with gold reflections. They are shy birds, and breed on the Florida Keys among the
mangroves, and occasionally descend to the ground. C. fasciata of western North
America, extending southward into Central America, is a very fine species and common
in California and other of the Pacific states. It is a forest-loving bird, congregates
in immense flocks, some of which have been estimated to consist of a thousand individ-
uals. It feeds on berries, acorns, ete., and, where the country is settled, on grain
which they procure by visiting the stubble-fields. The band-tailed pigeon, as this
bird is called, has the head, neck, and breast purplish-red, with a narrow white ring on
hind neck. The upper parts are grayish-blue, as is also the tail with a black band
near the tip. This bird is about sixteen inches long. Central and South America
contain several species of this genus, of which C. plumbea, and C. araucana, may be
mentioned. The latter is a very handsome bird from Chili, having the head, mantle,
and under parts reddish-purple shaded with ash-gray ; the back, rump, and upper tail-
coyerts lead-color. A white bar crosses the hind neck below the occiput, beneath
which is a patch of scaly metallic feathers reflecting golden and purple hues. The
tail is brown, with a broad black band near the tip. The length of bird is fourteen
inches.

The next and last family is that one here called Carrpopoacma. This is the
same in the main as Treronide of many authors, and contains the fruit-pigeons. They
are birds varying much in size, many of most beautiful plumage, consisting of strongly
contrasted colors. The bill varies from stout to slender; the wings are long; the tail
moderate, with fourteen feathers (one or two exceptions to this) ; the tarsi short, more
or less feathered, with bare part reticulated; and the inner toe is slightly united to
the base of middle one. The species of this family are found in India, Malayan
Peninsula, China, Moluccan, Papuan, and Polynesian islands, Australia, and Mada-
gascar.

The first genus claiming attention is A/ectrenas, containing four species, one of
which, A. nitidissimus, is a bird of very peculiar and striking appearance. It is a
native of the Isle of France, and has the head and neck covered with long, loose
white feathers that fall over the breast and back. At base of bill and around the eyes
isa bare red skin. Body dark violet blue. Tail and rump bright red. It is a very
rare bird in collections, and but few Europeans have met with it in its wild state.
Some young birds that were in captivity, never went on the ground unless obliged to
do so, but showed a wonderful capability in stretching to a great distance from their
perch, sometimes with their heads perpendicularly downward so as to pick a fruit
from off the floor of their cage. Another beautiful species is A. madagascariensis,
from Madagascar and the island of Nossibé. It is of a general indigo-blue color
glossed with violet; the tail, which is rounded, is red; the eyes are encircled with a
naked red skin; the feet are red. This bird dwells in the forest, frequenting the
topmost boughs of the tallest trees. Its flesh is said to be inferior to that of other

PIGEONS. 255

pigeons. The first primary of the birds of this genus is distinguished by possessing a
deep notch in the inner web.
We now come to Zeron, including the green-pigeons. This is a well-marked
division, containing a goodly number of species, of plump form, clothed in a green
plumage varied with ash and maroon, with considerable yellow on the wings, and
“orange hues on lower part of body. The genus has been divided into many genera

Fic. 122, — Alectrenas pulcherrima.

or sub-genera, but it will be quite sufficient to consider such species as shall be noticed
under the genus above given. These birds go in flocks, and are stated to be contin-
ually climbing about the branches, when searching for fruits, like squirrels, and the
strong muscles of the legs enable them to hang over and seize a fruit and then recover
their position without difficulty. They are good for food, but have a tough skin
They are found in India and Malasia, Africa, Japan, Madagascar, China, ete. We
have only space to notice one or two. 7. phcenicopterus (placed sometimes in a genus
Crocopus), is found over all Bengal and upper India, eastward into Assam. It breeds

256 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

in the wild jungles and thick, damp forests, feeds on fruits, and will readily eat
plantains in confinement. The top of the head and side of the neck are ash-gray; the
neck and breast bright yellow green; abdomen bright yellow in the middle; there is
a pale yellow bar across the wing, the upper parts are green; the tail ash-gray above,
tinged with green, under-coverts maroon with white tips. 7. sphenurus has a wedge-
shaped elongated tail, with the usual green plumage, but the breast is brightly tinged
with orange buff. The male has a very agreeable note, prolonged and musical, having
some resemblance to the human voice in singing. It is a native of the Himmalehs.
T. fulvicollis from Ma-
lacea and Borneo, dif-
fers from the other
species by having the
head and neck chestnut.
The genus Drepa-
noptilus, with one spe-
cies, D. holosericeus,
from New Caledonia,
is remarkable chiefly
for the peculiar shape
of the tips of the wing
feathers, which have
the outer webs notched,
and graduated toa point
beyond the shaft and
separate from the inner
webs. The plumage of
the species calls to mind
that of the members of
the genus Ptilopus in
which this bird has been
frequently included.
The general color is
green, throat white.
Five silver-gray bars
cross the wing, one
reaching the back: a
FiG, 123.— Treron waalii, green-pigeon. similar bar crosses the
tail; a yellow band and
a black one traverse the breast. Middle of breast and abdomen greenish yellow; rest
of under parts bright yellow. A peculiar character of this bird is found in the upper
tail-coverts, which are very numerous and long, and regularly placed one over the
other, causing this part to be unusually thick.
We now reach the great genus Ptilopus, containing between seventy and eighty
species, or over one fourth of all known pigeons. The genus, like many others in the

order Columbe, has been divided into many genera upon various pretexts, more or
less plausible, but none are of sufficient importance to make their retention necessary.
The birds of this genus are dispersed throughout the islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo,
Philippines, Moluccas, Papuan, and the various archipelagos and islands of the Pacific

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PIGEONS. 257

Ocean as far to the eastwards as the Marquesas. Many islands have but one species,
some contain a number, and the distribution of the different forms is often puzzling,
sometimes almost inexplicable. But this is not the place to discuss the geographical
distribution of any ornithological group, and we pass on to consider the plumage of
these birds. This is most varied and attractive, the colors being so brilliant and con-
trasting in their different hues as to challenge admiration, and frequently to cause
their possessors to appear among the loveliest of feathered creatures. The members
of the genus have been divided into two great groups, distinguished by having the
breast-feathers bifurcate and non-bifureate. The first of them contains from twenty-
five to thirty species, the second about fifty. Where all are so beautiful it is difficult
to make selections to present as examples of the genus.

Among those separated as having the front and top of head purple or deep rose,
margined with yellow or pale green, may be mentioned P. roseicapillus, from the
Ladrone or Mariana Islands. It has the upper part of the breast grayish green, feathers
tipped with pearly white ; the lower part crossed by a green band, with a large, deep purple
spot in the centre; abdomen orange, centre yellowish green ; under tail-coverts bright
yellow, rich orange at their tips. Tail pale green, tipped broadly with yellowish
white. Another more beautiful is P. perousei, from the Samoan, Fiji, and Friendly
isles. The forehead and crown and a broad band across the back are dark, purplish-
red; head, neck, and throat, abdomen, flanks, and crissum yellowish white; feathers
of breast split, rose-red at their base, rest yellowish white. Beneath these is a band of
reddish orange; the under tail-coverts are dark, purplish red. The wings are pale gray ;
the tail grayish white. Bill and feet black. It is difficult. to conceive a more beauti-
fully arrayed creature than is this bird. It is about eight and a half inches in length.
Tt dwells in the mountain defiles of the islands it inhabits, but is not abundant. The
native name for it among the Fijis is manw-ma, shame or modest-bird. The young
are so differently colored that they might easily be mistaken for a distinct species.
Both of the above have the breast-feathers bifureate. -

Of the next group with non-bifureate feathers, which has nearly double the num-
ber of members, the P. insolitus is remarkable for having the forehead and base of
culmen covered by a large, bony protuberance, rounded in shape and red in color.
The general plumage is a bright, bronzy green, with the abdomen deep orange-crimson,
and the under tail-coverts bright yellow. This curious species is a native of New
Treland and Duke of York Island of the Louisiade archipelago. A very pretty
species — the smallest of the genus —is P. nanus, with a general bronzy-green plumage,
a gray band on each side of the breast, a purple spot in the centre of the abdomen,
and all the wing-coyerts tipped with yellow. It is from New Guinea and Mysol.
P. jambu, from Malacea, Sumatra, Borneo, and Luzon, has the forehead, crown, and
sides of face scarlet; the top of the head with an amethyst tint; the upper part of
throat and chin black; the rest of under parts of body are white, washed with rose
on the breast; the under tail-coverts deep chestnut; upper parts and wings dark
green, as is also the tail, but with a gray band at the tip. Length, ten inches. This
species is common in certain of the localities it frequents, and feeds on fruits, especially
of the different species of Ficus. Another most lovely bird is P. wallace, from the
Aru and Kei islands; but probably the most brilliant of all, so far as color may be
considered, is the P. victor, from the Fiji Islands. This feathered gem has the head
and throat dull olive-green, and the entire rest of plumage bright orange-carmine ;
the tail is brownish orange, graduating into pure orange at the tip. This dove is said

VOL. Iv. —17

258 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

to be the glory of the Fijian forests. It breeds in November and December, making

a rude platform of small twigs for a nest, about ten feet from the ground, and lays
two pure white eggs. It feeds on many kinds of berries and fruits.

One might go on indefinitely making selections from these lovely birds, but our
limits forbid. It only remains to notice the bird which leads, through a chain of
other species of Ptilopus that have not been mentioned, towards the genus Carpo-
phaga. This species is C. magnificus, from Australia. It has two races representing
it in certain of the Papuan Islands, and also in Australia at Cape York and Rocking-
ham Bay. These differ from the species named mainly in size, the color of the
plumage not being appreciably different. It has the head and neck greenish-gray,
becoming light green on side of breast; the centre of throat and neck, breast and
abdomen, deep purple; the lower part of abdomen orange-yellow; under tail-coverts
yellowish-green; wings, back, and tail green, and a yellow bar across the wing. The
total length varies from thirteen to nineteen inches. This fine bird dwells in the

brush in various portions of Australia, is very shy and retired in its habits. It feeds.

upon the wild fig and the fruit of the palms, and possesses a loud, hoarse, monotonous
note (frequently uttered by the male in the breeding-season), which is entirely unlike
that of any other bird. The sexes resemble each other in plumage.

Another Australian genus is Lopholaimus, having but a single species, Z. anturc-
ticus. This is a very fine, large bird, remarkable for the thick double crest with
which its head is adorned. In its habits it is strictly arboreal and gregarious, going
in flocks of many hundred individuals, and descending upon the trees which bear its
favorite fruit in such multitudes as often to break the branches by their weight. Its
flesh is rather coarse and dry.

The last genus which calls for notice is Carpophaga, containing thirty or forty
species of large size, some of which are among the finest of this family, having many
rich and metallic colors on the upper part of their plumage. The feathers of the
forehead advance on the soft portion of the bill, and the tarsus is short, and the feet
broad, enabling them to grasp firmly the branches. Some species, separated by certain
authors as Globicera, have a fleshy knob on the base of the bill, which is most largely
developed during the breeding season in the male sex. Their distribution is very
similar to that of the members of Ptilopus, being found on many of the islands of the
various eastern archipelagoes. A very large species with a powerful bill, from the
Marquesas, was described as Serresius galeatus. A group characterized by a black
and white plumage have been united by some writers under the term Myristicivora,
but with the exception of having a rather short tail, they differ from other members
of Carpophaga mainly in the coloring of their plumage, hardly a generic quality.
Others again have been distinguished by the various terms of Phawnorhina, Ducula,
Zoncenas, ete., but these, like the various divisions of the other genera already no-
ticed, can at most only be considered as indicating sub-generie sections of Carpophaga,
useful, possibly, in grouping the species together, but not possessing characters of
sufficient importance to cause them to stand apart by themselves.

A fine Indian species is C. sylvatica, with the head, neck, and under parts pearl-
gray, tinged on the crown with vinaceous, the entire upper parts and tail shining cop-
pery green; under tail-coverts deep chestnut; chin and orbital feathers white ; bill
red at base, bluish white at tip, irides and bare skin around the eyes crimson ; legs
lake-red. It is about nineteen inches in length. This fine bird is found in forests at
low elevations, associates in small parties in search of fruits, and visits the salt swamps

PIGEONS. 259

on the Malabar coasts in search of the buds of Aricennia and similar trees. Its call
is a deep moan, likened by one writer to the croaking of a bull-frog, but said to be
somewhat ventriloquial. Its flesh is excellent. (C. dicolor, from Australia, various
Papuan, Molucean, and Malayan islands, one of the white and black plumaged birds, is
met with in great numbers in Australia wherever the wild nutmeg is found. It flies
rapidly, and usually at such a height as to be beyond the reach of a gun. It is said
to lay only one egg. C. pacifica, from various islands of the Papuan and Polynesian
archipelagoes, is a fine species, with the head and back of neck ash-color; chin white ;
throat and lower parts of body vinaceous; upper parts shining green with golden
reflections; under tail-coverts chestnut; bill with a round elevated knob at the base
black. This bird is very common in the Samoan Islands, wherever fruit or berries
are found. Many are caught alive and tamed by the natives, who esteem them
highly as pets, and carry them about in their canoes tied to long cords. The birds
very seldom attempt to fly away, but are generally on most familiar terms with their
owners. The average size of this pigeon is between sixteen and seventeen inches.

The foregoing is a very brief review of one of the largest and most important
groups known to ornithologists. Of great value to man from the edible quality of the
flesh, they supply to the native denizens of many extensive districts of the globe one
of their principal means of subsistence. One curious fact regarding pigeons is, that
these birds are generally absent from localities where monkeys are found; for these
nimble quadrupeds, being tree-dwellers and very destructive, would rob the open, easily
accessible nests of the birds of both eggs and young, and soon cause the extermina-
tion of the species. For this cause, with others, pigeons are most numerous in islands
of the sea, and in countries usually destitute of predatory animals and reptiles.

D. G. Exxior.

260 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

OrpER XV.—ACCIPITRES.

Among birds, as among mammals, we find certain forms specially fitted for the pur-
suit, capture, and use as food of many other animals. Among those which are pre
eminent in the destruction of the higher forms of life are the groups of eagles and
owls. These are typical birds of prey, and if we add to them the vultures, which at
first thought we might be slow to do, and a single and singular long-legged and long-
named bird of South Africa, —the serpent-eater or secretary bird —we shall have
before us representatives of the four groups which go to make up the order Accipitres,
otherwise known as Raptores or Raptatores.

Living entirely on animal substances, which they are frequently put to their wits’
ends to obtain, we should expect that many features of their organization would bear
directly on the manner of detecting, securing, and appropriating their food. And in
fact all the members of the order are at once recognizable by a glance at the structure
of the bill and feet, various though the modifications of these parts may be. The
strongly hooked bill, provided with a cere, only occurs elsewhere among the parrots,
and there the feet are totally different, two toes pointing forward and two backward,
as in cuckoos and woodpeckers.

The cere (Latin ceva, wax) is a membrane sheathing the base of the upper jaw,
commonly soft and smooth, but frequently horny and wrinkled, in, or at the edge of
which the nostrils open. The bill itself, very strongly built, is short and stout, with
cutting edges and arched tip, forming an admirable instrument for tearing flesh or
skin, and even breaking bones. This character is shown in all the members of the
group, however much they may differ in other respects, and the adaptation to flesh-
eating habits is so marked that it is hardly possible for anyone to mistake an accipi-
trine bird for anything else. The feet are always strong and four toed, three in front
and one behind; but the owls and the fish-hawk (Pandion) have the outer toe versatile
— turning either way indifferently. As the feet are the most active instruments in
securing prey, we should expect them to vary much with the character of the food
and the habits of the species, and such is in fact the case. Among those which feed
mainly on dead animals or refuse of any kind, the toes are clumsy and not fitted for
grasping, and the claws are usually blunt, weak, and little curved; while amongst
those which attack living birds or other animals, — often larger than themselves, —
the toes are very flexible as well as strong, and the claws, or talons, are very long,
much curved, and extremely acute.

Doubtless the eye of a falcon or eagle is the most perfect organ of sight in exis-
tence, far surpassing that of any other animal, including man himself. Not only are
they able clearly to distinguish minute objects at a distance, but in darting down from
a height they must have the power to adjust the eye to distance with a rapidity and
nicety simply marvellous. What must the eye of an osprey be, that he may be able,
from a height of even a hundred feet, to distinguish beneath the wind-roughened water
a fish so small that you might cover it with your hand, and not only see, but know
whether it be only a few inches or a few feet below the surface? And what kind of
sight is that which enables the barn-owl to follow and clutch in the darkness the bat
which you can scarcely follow with your eye in the early twilight?

All the birds of prey are not quick flyers, but their powers of endurance are unex-

Ee

BIRDS OF PREY. 261

celled and perhaps only equalled among such sea-birds as the petrels. Many of them
walk well, but slowly, when on the ground, while a few are able even to run; but
these are exceptions, the great majority being only able to progress with much diffi-
culty on the ground, and these always by hopping instead of walking. There is little
evidence that any of them possess unusual keenness of scent, the general impression
to the contrary notwithstanding. But we shall recur to this again.

In eating they often swallow much which is indigestible, such as bones, scales, hair,
feathers, etc., and these substances are afterwards ejected from the mouth in large
balls or rolls, technically known as castings. Their nesting habits vary much in
the different groups, but the birds are always monogamous and are believed frequently
to remain paired for life. The eggs are commonly few, rarely exceeding six, often
only one. The period of incubation is longer than in most other aerial birds, and
the young at first are covered with down, are quite helpless, and for an unusually long
time entirely dependent on the parents.

In size the Accipitres vary from the tiny finch-falecon (Microhierax) of the East
Indies, less than six inches in length and iveighing only a few ounces, to the Lammer-
geyer and griffon-vulture of the Alps and Pyrenees, with an expanse of ten feet or
more and a weight of eighteen or twenty pounds.

It may not be out of place at this point to call attention to the fact that it is
among the largest birds of the order that we find the most remarkable power of flight,
that is, the longest sustained and that which is apparently accomplished with the least
effort. The fact that a crane, an albatross, a vulture, or an eagle can rise from the sur-
face after a slight impetus is obtained, and then ascend in ‘circles’ without any
perceptible motion of the wings, until actually lost to sight in the clear sky, is so well
known as hardly to need mention, but the “way of an eagle in the air,” the real
manner in which this is accomplished, is often spoken of as an unsolved mystery.
That it is not so, any person with fair opportunities of observing the phenomena, and
a moderate amount of patience and common sense, may easily satisfy himself. The
points he will notice, though probably not in the particular order here mentioned, will
be about as follows : —

First, the bird must in some manner get a fair start, either by running a short
distance, by flapping the wings, by spreading them against the breeze, or, if the
ground be uneven, by gliding slightly downward from an elevation. Then it will be
noticed that if there is actually no breeze at all (which will rarely happen unless in a
small and closely hill-girt valley) the circling bird will be utterly unable to rise with-
out flapping; each complete turn will bring him back to a point close to his starting-
place, or at least not higher.

When the bird is able to rise without flapping, it will be found that, while gaining
in height at every turn, he is also drifting off before the wind, so that the successive
rings of his spiral are never vertically over each other. Should the observer ever be
fortunate enough to stand on a mountain side and see an eagle rise past him in this
way from the valley below to the open air above, he will not only be convinced of
this, but of much more ; for he will see that, throughout one half or more of each coil of
the spiral, the bird not only does not rise, but actually sacrifices some elevation for the
sake of gaining speed, and this is in that part of the circuit during which he is gliding
with the wind and across it; the instant he once more turns to meet it he begins to
rise, soon converting most of his momentum into elevation, or, in other words, gaining
height at the expense of speed. When his headway is almost gone, he slowly turns

262 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

away from the wind, sweeps with increasing velocity around another incomplete
circle, and towards its close rises another step on his airy staircase.

Sometimes, impatient apparently of the slight gain at each turn, a circle will be
finished with a vigorous flap or two in the face of the wind, and then the steady
circling motion be resumed again.

Of course the lower currents of air may often have a different direction or velocity
from the upper ones, and this doubtless often enables the soaring bird to retrieve much
of his loss due to lateral drift, or even sometimes to pass readily in what seems to be
the very wind’s eye. Undoubtedly, if the bird were willing and able to keep its
wings inclined at the proper angle to the breeze without circling, it could rise in much
the same manner as a paper kite, drifting, however, rapidly to leeward, but it would not
be an economical use of either time or strength. The rapid wheeling in wide curves
gives a bird complete control of its wings and enables it to preserve its balance per-
fectly without a thought, and so take advantage of every breath that blows. One
need only reflect for a moment how much easier it is to roll a plate or wheel in a
straight line on its edge than to balance it there when at rest, in order to realize the
advantage gained through the continuous and rapid motion.

It is obvious also that in two birds of different weights, but with relatively the
same wing-surface, the heavier bird will have the advantage over the lighter, through
the greater steadiness which the greater weight insures. I do not mean to say that
only the large birds of prey rise in this way. The pigeon-hawk, Falco columbarius,
and many other small falcons, avail themselves of this power, but it is certainly seen
on a grander scale, if not in higher perfection, among the eagles, vultures, and largest
falcons. ‘This is not the place to enlarge on such a subject, but it is introduced be-
cause so many of the birds of prey are experts in this kind of flight, which is less
commonly understood, perhaps, than the more usual mode of progression by vigorous
wing-beats.

It only remains to say that probably our utmost stretch of imagination does not
enable us properly to conceive how slight is the loss resulting from friction of the air,
and at the same time how great the lifting power of an almost imperceptible breeze
on a bird moving rapidly against it.

In general, the food of all members of the order consists of the flesh of vertebrates,
the exceptions being comparatively few, and mostly in the direction of insect-feeding.
Of the forms which subsist on living prey, the great majority probably feed on other
birds, to which diet is added a liberal proportion of mammals. A much smaller frac-
tion of the whole draws the bulk of its supplies from the reptiles, while fewer members
still feed largely on fish. This latter fact is rather surprising, considering the abun-
dance and accessibility of such food.

The influence which the Accipitres exert among birds and other vertebrates is an
extremely salutary one, though we lack the data for determining to what extent they
aid in holding noxious forms in check, it being very certain that many of them are
indiscriminate feeders, capturing beneficial as often as harmful species. It is ex-
tremely improbable, however, that they have ever been instrumental in the entire
extinction of species, and in most cases it may well be questioned whether the judi-
cious weeding out of weakly forms is not one of their most important benefactions.

In the taking and killing of prey it is interesting to note that the feet are invari-
ably the efficient weapons, the beak being rarely used until after the victim is dead.
Even the insect-eating kites and falcons clutch their minute prey with their feet, after-

BIRDS OF PREY. 263

wards transferring it to the bill. Ina similar manner all materials for the nest and
food for the young are carried in the claws; and in combat with each other, or in the
repulse of intruders from their nests, the same members —aided it may be by the
wings — are depended upon. Anyone who has attempted to approach a wounded eagle
or hawk will remember the characteristic attitude assumed by the bird, which, throw-
ing itself on its back, awaits the attack with wide-spread threatening talons.

In their relations to man, the Accipitres are at present serviceable in several ways,
among which their destruction of vermin and their work as scavengers are the most
important. Although their flesh is eaten by many tribes of savage or half-civilized
men, there are strong reasons why it would never be universally popular, even if easily
obtainable, and we suspect that the simile “tough as a boiled owl” is as truthful as it
is trite. Many members of the Falconide, however, have been made eminently ser-
viceable to man, in providing him with game at a time when sporting-arms were too
primitive to yield very satisfactory results in the way of bird-flesh; while falconry as
a pastime has been, in the past, one of the most universal and exciting field-sports
which the world has ever known. This, however, will be noticed when we come
to consider the true falcons.

As to the number of distinct species included under the head of Accipitres, there
is, for various reasons, the widest divergence of opinion, but we shall probably not be
far out of the way if we say that there are from four hundred to four hundred and fifty
good species in all, of which about two thirds are diurnal birds and the remainder owls.

As already stated, we shall consider the order as consisting of four primary groups,
which may be artificially distinguished as follows: The first family, the Gypogeran-
idx, or serpent-eaters, have the head feathered, the eyes looking laterally, the nostrils
separated by a bony, imperforate partition, the legs very long, the hind toe on a level
with the rest, the outer toe not versatile, the claws blunt and but slightly curved. It
embraces but a single diurnal species from South Africa.

The American vultures form the second family, the Cathartide. These have the
head naked, the eyes looking laterally, the nostrils not separated by an imperforate
bony partition, but communicating with each other, the legs of moderate length, the
hind toe somewhat above the rest, the outer toe not versatile, and the claws varying
with the species. Only six or eight species are known, all diurnal, and confined to
America.

The third family, the Faleonide, embraces some three hundred diurnal species of
eagles, hawks, falcons, the Old World vultures, ete. These may have the head
feathered or naked ; they have the eyes looking laterally, the nostrils separated by a
bony, imperforate partition, legs of moderate size, the hind toe on the same level with
the rest, the outer toe not versatile, except in a single species (the osprey), the claws
variable.

The owls, or Strigide, have the eyes looking directly forward, the nostrils as in the
last family, the legs moderate, the hind toe on the same level with the rest, the outer
toe always versatile, the claws always sharp and much curved. About one hundred
and fifty species are known, nocturnal, and inhabiting all parts of the world.

In qualification of this diagnosis we may add that a few of the Falconide are
‘somewhat crepuscular in habit, while at least one member of the Strigid is diurnal.

The singular South African secretary, Gypogeranus serpentarius, although unques-
tionably belonging among the birds of prey, is so entirely unlike the rest of them
that it must of necessity stand as the type and only member of a peculiar family, the

264 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

GyrocErRANIDz&. Some of the characteristics of this family have already been noticed,
and to these we may add that the bill is shorter than the head, the upper mandible
arched from the very base, and nearly half covered by the cere. The neck and wings

Fig. 124,— Gypogeranus serpentarius, secretary-bird.

are long, the first five primaries of about equal length, and emarginate on the inner
webs. The tail is unusually long, the two middle feathers very much lengthened; the
legs, and especially the tarsi, remarkably long, the hind toe only about half as long as
the outer one. The skeleton also is peculiar in several respects.

is oes

SECRETARY-BIRD. 265

-

The name secretary comes from the long and beautiful black or gray plumes
which spring from the back of the head, and might suggest, to a person of consid-
erable imagination, a bunch of quills stuck over a clerk’s ear. The secretary is
remarkable not less for the reptilivorous propensities which have given it the other
name of serpent-eater than for its singular personal appearance.

Its length from bill to tip of tail is over four feet, but just about half of this is tail,
while the neck is longer in proportion than in any other bird of the entire order, thus
leaving but a small fraction of the whole length for the body. This is itself quite
slender and mounted on strong legs longer than those of a sand-hill crane, the tarsus
alone being at least thirteen inches in length. The general color of the adult is a
clear, light gray, the sides of head and throat with some white streaks. The wings,
lower back, thighs, and abdomen are black, while the breast and tail-coverts are white.
Finally, the cere and bare skin about the eye are yellow, and the legs and feet are of a
dull flesh-color.

Although a well-known bird throughout nearly the whole of South Africa, it seems
to be nowhere very abundant, travelers of late years stating that it is unusual to see
more than two or three pairs in the course of a day’s riding in any part of the country,
and they are usually so shy as to be approached only with great difficulty. Although
the wings are very long and strong, it is rare to see the birds flying, and under ordinary
circumstances they are seen stalking about in pairs with a most deliberate gait.
Tf pursued, they first endeavor to escape by running, which they do easily and with
surprising swiftness, only taking wing when pushed very hard.

The farmers of the Cape frequently domesticate secretaries, and they are said
readily to become tame and familiar. In most of the settled parts of the country they
are closely protected by law, and heavy fines are imposed for killing them. Their
favorite food is said to be frogs and toads, but they seem to be always hungry, and so
never very notional about their food, if it only be abundant. Le Vaillant records that
the stomach of one which he examined contained eleven rather large lizards, eleven
small tortoises, a great number of insects, mostly entire, and three snakes as thick as a
man’s arm.

In attacking a snake it would seem that they never pounce upon it from a height,
in the manner of hawks and eagles, but first alight at a little distance and then stride
up to the attack. These combats must be. extremely interesting if we can believe the
accounts of eye-witnesses.

When the snake strikes, the bird either evades the blow by skipping to one side or
the other, jumping backward, or springing into the air, or else, as frequently happens,
he simply receives the venomous thrust of his antagonist on the broad, stiff feathers
of the outer half of the long wing, with which he knocks the reptile down, following
up the fall with a vigorous kick. His extreme agility enables him in a very short time
to baffle and overcome a snake of four or five feet in length, whereupon he finally
seizes him near the head with his bill, and, holding the body down with one foot
proceeds to swallow him. In case a snake proves unusually hard to manage on
the ground, the dauntless bird watches his opportunity, seizes his adversary
close to the head, and, flying aloft to a considerable height, lets him drop on the
hard ground, which is usually sufficient to prepare him for the final ceremony of
swallowing.

The nest, which is quite bulky, is always placed on the top of a lofty tree when
one is to be found, but in scantily wooded regions a bush usually serves the same

266 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

purpose. The eggs, generally but two, are dull white, dotted with light brown at the
obtuse ends.

The American vultures, constituting the family Caruarrips, are peculiar in haying
the hind toe inserted above the level of the rest, and the nostrils perforated, that is,
opening into each other through the bill, owing to the absence of the bony partition
which separates them in all other members of the order. There are many other points
of interest in their structure, such as the extreme shortness of the hind toe, and the
slight flexibility of the others; the comparatively short, blunt, and slightly curved
claws; the decidedly long tarsus; the somewhat lengthened and obtusely pointed,
slightly hooked bill; the nakedness of the head, ete. The cranial structure is also
peculiar, and it was Huxley’s demonstration of these osteological peculiarities which

Fia. 125. — Cathartes atratus, carrion-crow, black vulture,

has led to the separation of the American birds from the Old World vultures, with
which, until recently, they have always been associated.

As their name implies, these birds are cleansers or scavengers, living mainly on
carrion and other refuse, but frequently attacking small, weak, or sickly animals when
other supplies fail. ;

The smallest bird of the group, at least in extent of wing, is the carrion-crow or
black vulture, Cathartes atratus, so abundant in the Gulf states, extending as far north
as North Carolina, and ranging over almost the whole of Central and South America.

It is exceedingly useful as a scavenger, and in many states is very justly protected
by law, and has become as abundant and unsuspicious about the city streets as the
pigeons themselves. Wilson, describing the scene about the freshly skinned carcass
of a horse, says: ‘The ground for a hundred yards around it was black with carrion-

VULTURES. 267

«

crows: many sat on the tops of sheds, fences, and houses within sight; sixty or eighty
on the opposite side of a small river. I counted at one time two hundred and thirty-
seven, and I believe there were more, besides several in the air over my head and at
a distance. I remarked the vultures frequently attack each other, fighting with their
claws or heels, striking like a cock with open wings, and fixing their claws into each
other’s heads. On observing that they did not heed me, I stole so close that my feet
were within one yard of the horse’s legs and again sat down.” ;
This species is nearly black, about two feet long, and has an extent of wings of
about five feet. The head and much of the neck are bare of feathers, but the plu-

FG, 126.— Cathartes aura, turkey-buzzard.

mage runs up on the back of the neck to a considerable distance. The only bird
which could be mistaken for the carrion-crow is the turkey-buzzard, Cathartes aura,
but if the two birds have once been seen side by side they can hardly be confounded.
The latter bird is of a more brownish color, the neck is bare all around, the tail is
rounded instead of square, and the manner of flight is quite different, the present
bird sailing habitually by the hour, while the former flaps the wings vigorously every
few moments. The turkey-buzzard is found all over the United States except in the
northeastern part, but is most abundant toward our southern border. It oceurs also
in the West Indies and in South America, Both this and the preceding species breed

268 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

on the ground or in a hollow log or stump, making no nest, but laying a pair of
spotted eggs on the rotting wood or decayed leaves.

Among the largest birds of the Continent must be reckoned the Californian vul-
ture, Cathartes californianus, which attains sometimes the size of average specimens
of the condor. It is found from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, and in flight,
food, and breeding habits, so far as known, it resembles quite closely the turkey-
buzzard.

FiG. 127,— Sarcorhamphus papa, king-vulture.

Beyond question the bird of this group whose appearance is most striking is the
king-vulture, Sarcorhamphus papa, a native of tropical America, most abundant in
Brazil, but found as far south as Paraguay, and as far north as Mexico, and probably
Arizona. Most of the plumage is pure or creamy white, rather more buffy tinted on
breast and belly, while the large wing and tail feathers are deep black. The skin of head
and neck is naked, or only hairy, and most brilliantly colored. Waterton gives the
following description of these parts. “The throat and back of the neck are of a fine

CONDOR. 269

lemon color; both sides of the neck, from the ears downwards, of a rich scarlet ;
behind the corrugated part there is a white spot. The crown of the head is scarlet,
betwixt the lower mandible and the eye, and close by the ear there is a part which
has a fine silvery-blue appearance. Just above the white spot a portion of the skin is
blue and the rest scarlet; the skin which juts out behind the neck, and appears like
an oblong caruncle, is blue in part and in part orange. The bill is orange and black,
the caruncles on the forehead orange, and the cere orange, the orbits scarlet, and the
irides white.”

Unlike its near relative, the condor, it is strictly a bird of the forest, not often met
with among the mountains, but preferring the wooded banks of rivers, the depths of
impenetrable swamps, and the margins of broad savannas or stagnant marshes. It
gets its common name of ‘king’ from the belief of the Indians that the other vultures
stand in awe of it, and will not venture to eat until after the royal appetite is satisfied ;
and there appears to be considerable ground for this belief, although its size is less
than that of the turkey-buzzard, and it seems to be even more sluggish.

The condor, Sarcorhamphus gryphus, has usually been considered the largest of
the birds of prey, and the most absurd stories have been told of its strength and dar-
ing. In point of fact there are several Old World species fully as large, and some of
them probably a little larger, while the Californian vulture frequently reaches the
same size. Probably the condor never exceeds twelve feet in expanse of wing, and
even this size can be attained but rarely, the average being probably within a few
inches of nine feet. In an article by Professor Orton on “The Condors of the Equa-
torial Andes,” we are told that “ Humboldt never found one to measure over nine
feet; and the largest specimen seen by Darwin was eight and a half feet from tip
to tip. An old male in the Zoological Gardens of London measures eleven feet.
Von Tschudi says he found one with a spread of fourteen feet ten inches, but he in-
validates his testimony by the subsequent statement that the full-grown condor meas-
ures from twelve to thirteen feet.”

Yet up to the time when Humboldt visited the Andes and actually measured the
freshly killed birds, the wildest statements were made with regard to the size and
strength of the condor, from thirty to forty feet being set down as a fair figure for the
expanse of wing. Humboldt himself was at first deceived, and was astonished to
find that birds which, while perched on the lofty summits of the voleanic crags, ap-
peared truly gigantic, were in reality always less than four feet in length, and with an
expanse of wing never oyer nine feet. Perhaps the illusion may be in part accounted
for by the lack, in such situations, of all objects for comparison, but, as Darwin has
thoughtfully suggested, it may be “fully as much owing to the transparency of the air
confounding objects at different distances, and likewise partly to the novelty of an
unusual degree of fatigue arising from a little exertion, habit being thus opposed to
the evidence of the senses.”

The strength of the condor has also been much exaggerated, and the stories of its
carrying off sheep, and even children, in its claws are at once shown to be imaginary,
not only by the failure to establish a single authentic case of the kind, but by the
structure of the foot itself, which is not well adapted for grasping, the hind toe being
very small and above the level of the rest, while the claws on all the toes are blunt
and little curved, so that it may well be doubted, not that the condor could kill a sheep
or a child, but that, having done so, it could then grasp it and carry it away. This
same structure of the foot makes it difficult for the condor to perch on a tree, espe-

270 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

cially on a small limb, and so, although they do sometimes roost on trees, they much
prefer to rest and sleep on bare rocks and the ledae s of shes r precipices.

They are said to be such sound sleepers that they are easily caught with a noose
while roosting at night. Although frequently descending to the plains at the foot of
the mountains for food, their favorite haunts are among the peaks of the higher
Andes, not rarely above the line of perpetual snow, and they rise easily above the

FiG. 128. — Sarcorhamphus qi yphus, condor.

highest peaks, sweeping in graceful circles far above the snow-capped volcanoes, or
gliding thence in a few seconds almost to the sea level and the torrid heat of the
plains.

Although they feed mostly on carrion, they are equally fond of fresh meat, and
often kill lambs, goats, and the young of cattle and deer. Probably the guanaco and
vicufia furnish a goodly share of their food. They watch from an immense height
the movements of the puma, and, as soon as he withdraws satisfied from his dead
game, descend and speedily finish what remains.

CONDOR. 271

-

As the condor is confined to the comparatively narrow chain of the Andes, but
ranges from the Strait of Magelhaen to eight or ten degrees north of the equator, its
nesting-time would be expected to vary with the latitude, and probably the eggs are
laid between November and March. ‘The spot selected for this purpose is commonly
an inaccessible ledge or shelf on some precipice in the heart of the Cordilleras. Two
white, unspotted eggs, three and one half to four inches long, are laid on the bare
rock, and perhaps a few sticks gathered loosely about them. It is at least seven
weeks before they hatch, and the young birds are not able to fly until more than.
a year old, and even then they hunt and roost with the parent birds for a year or
two longer. Thus their development is slower than that of any other known species
of bird.

When first hatched, the young condor is covered with rather scanty, whitish
down, which soon deepens in color and increases in length and thickness, but is not
replaced by the true feathers until the bird is nearly as large as its parents. The
adult male is glossy black, with a broad white bar across each wing, and a collar or
ruff of snow-white down about the neck, above which the neck is unfeathered and
covered with wrinkled, dull red skin. The forehead has a fleshy or cartilaginous
comb or caruncle, the throat is wattled, and there is a large, pendulous wattle on
the upper part of the breast. The terminal part of the bill is ivory white, the rest
dark. The adult female lacks the comb, the wattles are smaller or wanting, there
is less white on the wings, and the dark colors are duller than in the male.

Before reaching this condition the young birds wear, for one or more years, a
pretty uniformly brown dress, and in this stage are called by the natives of the Peru-
vian Andes ‘condor pardo, or brown condor. The comb of the male usually makes
its appearance before the downy collar, which latter is not developed before the
second year, and is not at first white. .

Whatever may be the case under natural conditions, in confinement this species
does not acquire its full plumage for several years, as shown by a specimen received
at the London Zoological Gardens in 1877, which “was in nearly the same uniform
brown plumage” six years later, and was therefore considered by Mr. Sharpe to be an
undescribed species, which he named Sarcorhamphus @quatorialis. A specimen in
the Central Park menagerie at New York, however, which at the age of six years was
precisely like this ‘new’ species, subsequently acquired the full plumage of the true
condor, of which therefore probably but one species should be recognized. Humboldt
says that the name condor is from a word in the language of the Incas, signifying to
smell, and adds: “There is nothing more astonishing than the almost inconceivable
sagacity with which the condor distinguishes the odor of flesh from an immense
distance.” This belief in the extraordinary power of smell possessed by carrion-
vultures is largely an inherited or traditional one, and was long ago shown to be
without foundation. That they have some power of smell is well known, and Owen
has even shown that in the turkey-buzzard the olfactory nerves are highly developed.
‘Recognizing this fact in the anatomy of the bird, there is yet very little evidence that
the power is ever used in the detection of food.

Audubon’s careful experiments on the black-vulture, Cathartes atratus, make it
certain that, in that species, sight, principally, if not solely, guides the bird to its prey.
The perfectly dry, stuffed skin of a common deer, placed in the attitude of death,
attracted a vulture within a few moments, though there was nothing eatable about it;
after satisfying itself of which, by walking over and tugging at it, the bird circled

272 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

about over the field until it espied a small snake, not thicker than a man’s finger,
upon which it at once pounced. Moreover, a large and putrid carcass of a hog care-
fully covered by canes and brush so as to be invisible, remained undiscovered by
the vultures in spite of the intolerable stench it sent out, though they frequently
passed by accident quite near it, and the dogs at once discovered it. Yet a small,
freshly-killed pig hidden near the same place was at once traced out by the vultures,
by the blood which was allowed to run from it as it was carried to its hiding-
place.

Bachman subsequently repeated some of these tests at Charleston, 8. C., and
added some new and perfectly convincing ones. The rough painting of a sheep,
skinned and cut open, soon brought vultures to examine and tug at it, and though the
experiment was repeated scores of times it never failed,on each fresh exposure, to
attract the hungry birds. A wheelbarrow-load of tempting carrion was next covered
by a single sheet of thin canvas, above which bits of fresh meat was strewn. The
fresh meat was soon eaten, but although the vultures must frequently have had their
bills within an eighth of an inch of the carrion beneath, they did not discover it.

While at Valparaiso in 1834, Darwin experimented on twenty or thirty condors
which were kept in a garden at that place. They were tied in a long row at the foot
of a wall, each bird by a single rope, and Darwin walked backward and forward before
them, at a distance of about ten feet, with a piece of fresh meat in his hand, wrapped
securely in a piece of white paper. No notice whatever was taken of it by the birds.
He then threw it on the ground within a yard of an old male condor, who looked at
it carefully for a moment and paid no further attention. With a stick it was pushed
closer and closer, until he touched it at last with his beak, when instantly the paper
was torn off, while every bird in the long row began struggling and flapping its wings.

The evidence on the other side of the question is very meagre. Darwin tells us
that a “gentleman mentioned at a meeting of the London Zoological Society that he
had twice seen the carrion-hawks in the West Indies collect on the roof of a house
when a corpse had become offensive from not having been buried ;” and a ease is cited
by Mr, Gosse in his “ Birds of Jamaica,” where the stench from the putrid contents
of a soup-pot in a house caused one vulture after another, as he passed over, to
descend toward the house and sometimes take several turns about it before reluctantly
resuming his course. There is nothing however, in either of these cases that would
justify us in ascribing any wesual power of smell to the vultures even if we admit
that their actions were consequent on the odors they perceived, for the same odors
were perfectly perceptible to men in the neighborhood at fully as great a distance as
that at which the vultures are supposed to have discovered them.

On the whole, when we remember the disgusting character of much of the vulture’s
food, as well as the similar odor which of necessity the bird usually bears about with
it, we can hardly see how it would be possible for it to detect at a distance the
odor even of carrion,—much less that of perfectly fresh meat or of living animals.
The obvious and simple explanation of ninety-nine one-hundredths of these remarkable
discoveries was first pointed out by Audubon and has been almost universally
accepted since.

Probably in most regions where vultures of any species are fairly abundant, every
nook and corner of the surface is carefully scrutinized many times a day, and by many
pairs of hungry eyes. Wheeling in graceful curves at varying heights, some scarcely
higher than the house-tops, others only visible to the human eye as mere moving

VULTURES. 273

specks in the blue sky — each bird is keeping silent watch not only of all that tran-
spires below him, but of every movement of his more or less distant companions.
Thus it is sufficient if but one bird discover anything eatable; his change of move-
ment at once signals his discovery to his nearest companion, who hastens to share the
feast. His eagerness betrays his secret to other watchful eyes, and so by an almost
faultless, yet unintended, system, the news is noiselessly spread for miles almost before
the original discoverer has reached his prize. If the find be small, such, for example,
as a dead rat or small snake, the lucky finder disposes of it without assistance and soon
resumes his regular and well-understood motions, thus checking the arriving guests
almost as soon as they haye received their invitations.

If, on the other hand, the supply of food in prospect is large, the invitation may be
spread indefinitely, and if the meat be fresh, and covered by a hide too tough to be at
once torn, there is nothing to do but to wait until decomposition shall have softened
it, or some carnivorous quadruped shall make an opening, thus giving time for some of
the birds to come from great distances, often, perhaps, a hundred miles or more.

The great bulk of the diurnal birds of prey are included in the family Fatcontpz,
to which we now turn our attention. Here we find the largest as well as the smallest
of the Accipitres, and the one similar plan on which all are constructed is expressed
in so many different ways, and with such endless variations of detail, that at first one
is sorely puzzled to know which should be considered the higher and which the lower
forms. It would be impossible, however, to arrange the species in any linear series
which should show with even tolerable accuracy their true relations, and we shall
hence simply assume that the vultures are the lowest, and the falcons the highest, and
arrange the intervening groups as best we may, merely remarking that while we here
recognize eight sub-families, as being more in conformity with general usage, half as
many would, perhaps, answer equally well, and there is much to be said in favor of
Mr. Ridgway’s proposition to make but two, namely, the Buteonine and Falconinze.
The purely osteological characters, however, on which these are founded are hardly
so suitable for the present purpose as the more superficial ones by which the more
numerous divisions which we here adopt are usually defined.

These sub-families are: The Vulturinze, or Old World vultures; the Aquilina, in-
cluding the eagles and buzzards; Pandioninw, with its single species, the osprey ;
Circine, the harriers; Milvins, the kites; Polyboring, the carrion-buzzards; Accipi-
trinze, the true hawks; and Falconinez, the falcons.

Collectively, the Falconidwe may be defined as those diurnal Raptores with imper-
forate nostrils, in which the legs are either short or of only moderate length, the tarsus
never exceeding six inches. If, for the moment, we leave out of consideration the
Vulturine, whose structure will be noticed shortly, we may add that the head is al-
ways largely feathered, the bill strongly hooked, and the claws curved and sharp.
The minor modifications, as well as the habits, of the birds comprised in this populous
family will be most conveniently noted under the sub-families to which they belong.

The Vulturinz, or Old World vultures, form a group of carrion-feeding Raptores,
which may be recognized by the following characters: Head and neck more or less
destitute of feathers, either bare or else bristly or downy, no true feathers on the top
of the head. Feet robust and strong, but not very flexible; hind toe inserted at the
same level as the rest. Size large, length from bill to tip of tail two to four feet.
Young fed at first by regurgitation, later probably by food carried to them in the
claws by the old birds.

VoL. Iv. —18

O74 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

There is now no doubt that the so-called true vultures, 7. e., Old World vultures,
are simply modified buzzards or eagles, adapted for an almost exclusive diet of carrion,
Much as they have been modified, they still retain all the essential characters of the
Falconide. The partial nakedness of the head and neck, together with the weakness
of the feet and bluntness of the claws, are the principal external differences from
the other members of the family, while the internal anatomy is very similar in both.
Like the other Falconidw, they commonly construct bulky nests, or use such nests al-
ready constructed by other birds, and this fact, together with the bringing of food to
their young, shows a palpable difference in the prehensile power of the foot between
these and the American vultures ; for few birds are able to fly with any considerable
weight in the bill, and the Accipitres habitually use the feet for this purpose when it
becomes necessary to transport food or building-materials.

In the countries bordering the Mediterranean no less than six species of vulture are
of regular if not common occurrence, and four of these occur in southern Europe;
the remaining two, Gyps riippelli and Gyps africanus, are African species, only reach-
ing the Mediterranean at the northern limit of their range. Three of the four which
occur in Europe are among the largest of living birds of prey, having a length of
almost four feet, and an extent of wings of nine or ten feet. They are the crested
black-vulture, Vidtur monachus (otherwise known as the Arabian or cinereous-vulture),
the griffin or fulvous-vulture, Gyps fulvus, and the Nubian or eared-vulture, Otogyps
auricularis, sometimes improperly called the sociable vulture. The other species, the
Egyptian vulture, Veophron percnopterus, is much smaller, measuring only twenty-
five inches in length, thus corresponding in size quite closely with the black-vulture,
Cathartes atratus, of America.

The crested black-vulture, the type and only species of the genus Vudtwr, is found
throughout southern Europe and northern Africa, extending eastward through Asia
to China. Its plumage, when adult, is dull, sooty black, with brownish reflections in
certain lights, and only relieved by the livid flesh color of the bare skin about the neck,
the base of the bill, and the feet. The head and throat are completely covered with
short, soft, downy, black feathers, which run down to a point on the throat. The neck,
which with this exception is bare, is encircled by a ruff of pointed, downy feathers,
longest at the back. Immature birds are much browner. The nostrils are very small
and almost circular, thus differing from those of all other members of the sub-family.
In Europe it seems to be most abundant along the southern Danube and in Spain.
Its nest, which is of immense size, is almost invariably placed on a tree, sometimes
high up, sometimes not far from the ground, but commonly on the steeper slopes of
mountains, or near their summits. The single egg usually laid in each nest is from
three and a quarter to four inches in length, and about two and a half to two and
two-thirds inches in breadth, and richly spotted and blotched with red. Several nests
are frequently found within a few hundred yards of each other. This species is ordi-
narily slow and heavy in its action, but spends many hours each day sailing at great
heights watching for food. In Sardinia, where it is quite common but, as elsewhere,
rather shy and suspicious, Mr. A. B. Brooke found its nest, containing a single young
one, on the first of June. The nest “ was built high up in the mountains, on the very
top of an old stunted ilex, forming a large shallow platform about five feet long by
four broad.” Of this bird’s voracity the same observer gives the following instance:
“On one oceasion I had placed the skinned carcass of a moderate-sized sheep in an
open vineyard surrounded by thick cover, in hope of attracting some birds of prey.

VULTURES. 275

I had sat by it for several hours without anything having perceived it, and, getting
tired of waiting, moved away two hundred or three hundred yards. I had scarcely
done so when a common kite (Milvus ietinus), flying by, caught sight of the meat, and
after soaring round once or twice, lit; he was hardly down when a cinereous vulture
appeared at a great height, rapidly descending in circles, which became smaller and
smaller as he reached the ground; he was followed in quick succession by two ravens,
another kite, another cinereous vulture, and an eagle (Aquila bonelli, I think), which
latter, however, did not light, but kept soaring round and round.

“In the mean time I stalked to the spot as quickly as possible, and managed to
kill a vulture, and then to my surprise, on looking at the sheep, found literally nothing
left but the clean-picked ribs, backbone, and head. I feel quite sure that I am over
the mark when I say six or seven minutes was the outside limit of the time the vul-
tures were on the ground, and one bird not more than half that time. The one I shot
was a fine old female, weighing sixteen and a quarter pounds; the weight of a male
I afterwards shot was only fifteen pounds.

“The length of the female in the flesh was forty-one inches; from carpal joint to
end of wing thirty inches. Vultures do not appear to begin to hunt very early in the
morning, but wait until the sun is well up; and few are to be seen during the extreme
heat of the day, which seems to show that they rest at that time. Their power of
going without food must be very great, as it is improbable that a comparatively small
island like Sardinia supplies enough dead carcasses to give each bird a meal every day.
These birds hunt over an enormous extent of country; the pace with which they soar
through the air, when going from one point to another, can only be realized from the
inconceivable rapidity with which they pass out of sight on a clear day when flying at
great heights.” There seems to be no evidence that this species commonly attacks
living animals of any kind. F

The griffon-vulture, Gyps fulvus, may be taken as the type of a genus containing
three or four good species and as many more doubtful ones, or perhaps more correctly
geographical races which are candidates for specific distinction. The griffon is in size
and habits very nearly like the preceding species, but differs much from it in color,
the large’ wing and tail feathers alone being black, all other parts quite light-colored,
or mottled with light and dark. The nest also is usually placed on cliffs or among
rocks, and contains a single large white egg, without spots. Gyps rtippelli, indicus,
and bengalensis are similar birds, the first from Africa and the two others from India
and the Malay peninsula.

Mr. R. C. Beavan, writing of the vultures of India, says the Bengal vulture
“breeds in Maunbhoom in February, choosing for the purpose almost invariably a
large semul or cotton tree, which at that time of the year loses its leaves and puts
forth its fine scarlet flowers; hence the nest, which is generally placed at the junction
of two large limbs, or at the diverging point of several branches from the trunk,
is plainly visible, but not easy to get at; for the vulture chooses the largest trees it
ean find, and most of them are smooth, large in girth, and devoid of branches near the
ground. The nest is circular, compactly built of fresh twigs with the leaves on.
Eggs two, dirty white, frequently blotched with red, which, however, is either blood
or dirt, for it is removable by brushing with soap and water. On my way down
to the plains from Simla in October, 1866, I came across several of this species, which
Thave found abundantly distributed in every part of the plains of India hitherto vis-
ited by me. On the occasion alluded to, numbers of cattle had been used for the

276 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

al

purpose of carrying down baggage from Simla to the plains, and, as a matter of course,
several had died on the way.

“One which I found on the roadside was surrounded by crowds of these vultures.
On going up to examine it, I disturbed about forty of them, most of which flew up
into the neighboring trees. On going near the carcass, I was surprised to hear a rum-
bling noise proceeding from its inside. There was a good-sized hole dug out by the
bills of these birds in the neck of the carcass, and also another near its anus, while the

HIT

OPEN UIETY

|

MTT
|

FIG, 129.— Gyps riippelli, Kiippell’s vulture.

stomach was swollen out and distended as if with air, On hitting this with my stick
it appeared to be filled out by something inside, and in a few minutes, to my great
astonishment, I found that there were more vultures, all alive, inside the carcass!
Two following each other in quick succession shortly afterwards walked out through
the hole in the neck of the bullock, and the first immediately flew off to a neighboring
tree, whilst the other was so gorged he could not do more than waddle off to a rock
close by, on which he sat, whilst I left him and concluded my journey.”

VULTURES. O77

The genus Otogyps is distinguished by its bare head, with fleshy folds arising
beneath the ears and falling down the sides of the neck, forming the so-called ear-
lappets. The Nubian vulture, Otogyps auricularis, is found only in Africa, and the
most typical specimens only in the southern part. The Pondicherry vulture, 0. caluus,
occurs in India, and thence eastward to Siam. It is much smaller and darker than
the preceding, has a small ruff of black feathers about the neck, and the inner face of

Fia. 130. — Otogyps calvus, Pondicherry vulture.

the thigh is bare. It is rather a solitary bird, rarely more than two or three being
seen together, nests usually in trees, and lays white eggs.

The genus Neophron probably comprises but two species, percnopterus and pilea-
tus, the latter confined to Africa, the former having a much wider distribution. In
India, a smaller race of percnopterus is found, sometimes considered a distinct species
under the name ginginianus, while in tropical Africa a similar race of the more
southern pileatus exists.

The typical Egyptian vulture, WV. percnopterus, is sometimes found in northern
Europe, and has once or twice occurred in England. It is abundant in all the coun-

278 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

tries surrounding the Mediterranean and Red seas, as well as throughout Africa and
in northwestern India. Owing to its very light color it is frequently called the white-
vulture; in Africa the Dutch colonists call it the white-crow, and, as it frequently
figures in the hieroglyphs of Egypt, it is also known as ‘ Pharaoh’s chicken.’ Wher-
ever it is abundant its usefulness as a scavenger is recognized, and it is carefully pro-
tected by law as well as frequently by superstition, so that in nearly all the cities and
towns of southeastern Europe, and in fact wherever it is found in tolerable abundance,
it is one of the most familiar objects in the streets, and a group of them may often be
seen wrangling for some scrap of offal among the very feet of the horses and camels
of a market-place. With the giffons and several other species, it is a never-failing
attendant on the deserted battle-field, and, with the help of the jackal and hyena,
desecrates many a lonely cemetery. According to Mr. F. G. C. Taylor, in and about
Constantinople it is very abundant, sitting on the roofs of the houses, and breeding on
the ruined walls and towers of Stamboul. The eggs, three or four in number, and
unlike those of other Old World vultures (except V. monachus), are strongly blotched
with brown and red, the markings often completely obscuring the ground color. The
young birds are of a blackish brown color, after the first year becoming more yellowish,
but not assuming the final plumage of the adult—mostly white, with the large
feathers of the wing black—until the third year. It is stated that the bill of the
male, which is ordinarily yellow, deepens in color to a clear orange during the breeding
season.

The transition from the vultures to the eagles and buzzards is a natural and not
very abrupt one, when we consider that at least two of the genera which we now
take up have been sometimes included in one group and sometimes in the other,
according to the fancy or conviction of the author handling the subject.

Under the head of Aquilina, we propose to consider those forms which are com-
monly placed in two separate groups, the Aquilinz or eagles, and the Buteonine or
buzzards. Our reason for this is simply that the two groups are not fairly separable ;
that while marked differences aside from size undoubtedly exist between a golden-
eagle (Aquila), and a ‘ hen-hawk’ (Buteo), and even between small groups of which
these two are typical members, yet in the presence of the vast number of forms which
are admitted to be very closely related, but which cannot come into either group so
long as the groups themselves are separated, we cannot do less than merge the two in
one and include all the most nearly related forms. The trouble is, however, that
having done this, having opened our doors to these homeless robbers, we are in a fair
way to be looked upon as an asylum for discontents, or rather for those semi-orphans
whose parentage we may indeed know, but whose ancestry is as yet involved in
obscurity. Thus the harriers will be wanting to come in next, then some of the kites, and
perhaps all of the hawks. Under these circumstances, the only thing to do would be
to give each applicant a rigid examination and admit him if possible. But at least let
us quarantine the carrion-buzzards (Polyborinz) as long as possible, and especially
let us be careful not to add insult to injury in the case of the osprey by forcing him
into any closer relations with a group the very name of which must always call up
painful recollections.

But to return to facts: the Aquiline group which we have introduced may be in’
general negatively characterized as follows. Bill not toothed as in the falcons, the
cutting edge of upper mandible even or sinuate; face without the imperfect disk of
the harriers; the bony shield over the eye usually prominent; legs and feet heavier

Pe

EAGLES. 279

and shorter than those of the hawks; tarsus evidently shorter than the tibia, usually
scutellate in front and behind, or else feathered ; claws always long, much curyed and
sharp}; wings various, but usually rather short, broad, and rounded. In the progress
from youth to maturity the changes in plumage are generally several, and frequently
the successive stages are very unlike each other. In other cases, although the young
plumage is very unlike that of the adult, the latter is assumed very gradually and
almost imperceptibly. In very many cases marked changes of general color resulting
from the change in color of the feathers themselves without the loss of any old, or the
gain of any new ones. The time required to obtain the adult dress is also very different
in different species, and probably varies considerably in individuals of the same species.
In not a few the young birds molt at once into the mature dress, in others this is
not obtained for at least five or six years, and there seems to be no doubt that oeca-
sionally there are individuals which never assume it, though they may live to old age.

Moreover the various stages peculiar to any given species are not necessarily passed
through by every individual, and even if they are, all do not assume them in the same
order. Finally, melanism is of frequent occurrence, not only black individuals ocea-
sionally appearing in almost every species, but black races are not infrequent, in which
case the melanism may be (?) only temporary, or, as seems more often to be the case,
the abnormal coloration is permanent. Much of what has been said here with regard
to variation of plumage is applicable equally to other sub-families, but as it is particu-
larly noticeable among the buzzards and eagles I have dwelt on it here.

In the light of all these facts it will readily be seen how difficult is the discrimina-
tion of species, and how perplexing the literature of the subject through the descrip-
tion as valid species of all the different forms which a single one may show. As an
extreme illustration of the ease with which species are manufactured we may men-
tion that in 1875 a European ornithologist of some prominence described as “new” a
species, the only example of which was then living in the Zoological Gardens at Ant-
werp. This, according to his own description, was extremely similar to a well-known
and variable species, and moreover he had actually never seen the bird he described
as new. We can therefore hardly be surprised when he mentions as one of the char-
acteristics of his new species that it is “silent in confinement.”

Too much reliance has often been placed on the change or permanency of plumage
in captive birds; and while such specimens are frequently invaluable, and we are in-
debted to them for much of our true knowledge of change in plumage, yet we should
never lose sight of the fact that birds living under abnormal conditions are very liable
to become abnormal themselves.

The age which birds of prey attain is very uncertain, and the data on this point
very meagre. The general statement has always been that “eagles probably live to
be at least one hundred years old.” Many cases, indeed, are on record where eagles
are believed to have lived more than one hundred years, but we know of no instance
where this was absolutely known to be true. At least one authentic instance has been
recorded, however, of a white-tailed eagle, Halietus albicilla, which lived in contine-
ment until upwards of eighty years old.

The eagle-vulture, Gypohierax angolensis, of West Africa, combines, as its name
suggests, some characters of both the eagles and vultures. Its size and general bear-
ing would place it with the former, but its carrion-eating habits, coupled with the bare
skin of the sides of the head, suggest the vultures. It is a beautiful bird in its appear-
ance, especially when seen seated solitary, as its custom is, on the bare top of some

280 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

commanding tree, giving a wide outlook over river and forest. Its plumage is mainly
snowy white, the wings and tail alone being mostly black, the latter with « broad ter-
minal white band. The legs and feet are pink, and the bare skin about the head
flesh-colored. Though it ordinarily lives on carrion it has been known to stoop at
living prey, Mr. H. T. Ussher having shot one in the act of striking a kid tethered in
the woods as a bait for a leopard.

The bearded-vulture or Limmergeyer, Gypattus barbatus, is one of the most noted
of all the birds of prey, holding much the same place with regard to the Pyrenees, Alps,
and Himmalehs that the condor holds in the Andes.

A bird of magnificent proportions and savage aspect, it is nevertheless much less
harmful than many of the smaller eagles, though tradition accuses it of the most
daring attacks on chamois, mountain goats, and even mountaineers themselves. The
mode of attack commonly ascribed to it as follows: Watching stealthily for an
unguarded moment, when its victim is near the edge of a precipice, it sweeps down
with tremendous velocity, and, by the force of its rush, followed up perhaps by blows
of the wings, forces its half-stunned and bewildered quarry over the brink, afterwards
descending itself to feast at leisure on the lifeless body.

Dresser, in his “ Birds of Europe,” says of this habit: “Many of these accounts
are greatly exaggerated. It partakes far more of the vulture in its habits than of the
eagle, feeds on carrion and such refuse as it can pick up, sometimes doubtless attack-
ing weakly lambs or catching mountain hares. There are, however, authentic records
of its having attacked children when impelled by hunger.”

Mr. Salvin, who found several pairs breeding in the Atlas range in northern
Africa, says that their food there consisted principally of land-tortoises, Testudo
mauritanica, which they carried to some height in the air, letting them fall on a stone
to break the shell.

Another observer, writing of its habits in Greece, says: “The Liimmergeyer may
be observed floating slowly at a uniform level close to the cliffs of some deep ravine,
where his shadow is perhaps projected on the walllike rocks. If the ravine has
salient and re-entering angles, he does not cut across from point to point, but pre-
serves the same distance from the cliff, and when he disappears at any lateral fissure,
you feel sure of the very spot where he will emerge on turning the corner of the
precipice. Marrow-bones are the dainties he loves the best, and when the other
vultures have picked the flesh off any animal he comes in at the end of the feast and
swallows the bones, or breaks them and swallows the pieces if he cannot get the
marrow out otherwise. The bones he cracks by taking them to a great height and
letting them fall upon astone. This is probably the bird that dropped a tortoise on
the bald head of poor old A®schylus.”

In color the adult male Liimmergeyer shows strong contrasts, most of the under
parts and the neck being rich, light rusty yellow; the wings, back, and tail blackish
brown with white shaft-streaks; the forehead and crown creamy white, the sides of
the head and a bunch of long black bristles on the chin jet black. The iris is pale
orange, but the sclerotic membrane is blood red, giving the bird an almost diabolical
look when excited. Full grown individuals range from three to four feet in length,
and have an extent of wings of nine or ten feet.

The bulky nest is usually placed in some inaccessible cleft or cavern in the face of
a cliff, and the single egg (rarely one more) is dull yellow, clouded or washed with
rusty. The birds are much sought after on account of their feathers, and their nests

EAGLES. 281

are likewise robbed whenever they are found in accessible places; the eggs, from their
rarity in collections, always bringing a good price. Hence the Limmergeyer is fast
disappearing from Europe, being now very rarely seen in Switzerland, where it was
once common, though still found in some numbers in Spain, where it has been less
persecuted.

A second species of Gypaétus, G. meridionalis, is credited to northeastern Africa,
and is said to be easily distinguished by having the lower part of the tarsus bare. It
also differs somewhat in head markings, but all the differences are so slight, and the
characters themselves so variable in the true Liimmergeyer, that probably it will prove
to be merely a geographical race of this bird.

We give the following anecdote of this species on the authority of Rev. J. G.
Wood, who says: “ Bruce gives a graphic and amusing narrative of the cool audacity
that was displayed by one of these birds. The author, with a number of his attend-
ants, were seated on the summit of a mountain, engaged in cooking their dinner,
when a Liimmergeyer came slowly sailing over the ground, and boldly alighted
close to the dish of boiled meat around which the men were sitting. Undismayed
by their shouts of distress, he quietly proceeded to reconnoitre the spot, while the
men were running for their spears and shields, and, going up to the pot in which
some goat’s flesh was boiling, he inserted his foot for the purpose of abstracting
the meat. Not being prepared for the sudden scalding which ensued, he hastily
withdrew his foot and fastened on a leg and shoulder of goat’s flesh which were
lying on the dish, carrying them away before he could be intercepted. The attend-
ants were quite afraid of the bird, and assured Mr. Bruce that it would return in
a short time for more meat. Accordingly, in a very few minutes, back came the
Liimmergeyer, but was evidently rather suspicious at the look of Mr. Bruce, who
had taken up his rifle and was sitting close to the pan of meat. In spite of the shouts
of the attendants, the bird, which evidently held in the greatest contempt the warlike
capabilities of the natives, and was not prepared for European weapons and hands,
settled on the ground about ten yards from the meat, and the next instant was lying
dead on the earth with a rifle-ball through its body. When brought to the scales the
dead bird was found to weigh twenty-two pounds, and the expanse of its wings was
eight feet four inches, although it was undergoing its moult at the time.”

Most of the typical eagles are included under the genera Aguila and Haliaétus, each
of which comprises from five to twenty species distributed through all countries, but
perhaps most poorly represented in North America, where we have only one species
of each genus, viz., the golden-eagle, Aguila chrysaétus, common to Europe, Asia,
and North America, and the bald-headed eagle, Haliaétus leucocephalus, peculiar to
North America. The Old World white-tailed sea-eagle, H. albicilla, which very
closely resembles a large and poorly colored bald-eagle, is found in Greenland, but not
elsewhere in North America, though abundant in Europe and Asia and even in Kams-
chatka and the Aleutian Islands.

In Aquila the tarsus is feathered to the toes; in Haliaétus only about half way
from heel to toes. The members of the genus Agwila are often spoken of as ‘true
eagles’ as distinguished from the equally large but less regal Haliaéti, which are
certainly more addicted to fishing, and perhaps oftener feed on carrion, but in this
latter particular there is little choice. Other writers call both these genera ‘trae’
eagles, relegating to the ‘so-called eagles’ the related genera Haliastur, Helotarsus,
Nisaétus, and almost any hawk or buzzard of large size.

282 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

We may take as our type o: the eagles the golden-eagle just referred to, one of
the largest of its genus, and unfortunately far from common in America. It ranges
from Mexico northward, being most abundant in mountainous regions, where it
usually nests on inaccessible cliffs, and lays two or three eggs, which are commonly
brown-spotted, though occasionally white like those of the bald-eagle.

On the other side of the Atlantic it ranges somewhat further south, being abun-
dant in the Atlas mountains of northern Africa, and of common occurrence in India,

NY
'

Ze
hs

ZA

FIG. 131, — Aquila mogilnik, imperial eagle.

and, though everywhere a mountain-loving bird, in the two last-named places, it not
unfrequently nests in trees. In Great Britain at one time both this and the sea-eagle
were verging on extinction, owing to the bounties paid for their destruction on
account of their depredations on flocks. It is now, however, not uncommon in Scot-
land, and in some localities there even seems to be increasing in numbers, probably
owing to two causes combined, one the protection granted it by the owners of many
large estates, and the other that extended to it by the shepherds and mountaineers

EAGLES. 223

themselves, who have learned that a large price can be obtained for its eggs, and so,
after robbing a nest once each season, allow a second set of eggs to be hatched and
the young to be reared. The American bird has usually been considered a variety of
the Old World species, and distinguished by the name canadensis. The only points,
however, in which the two forms differ, are the slightly larger size and darker plum-
age of the American bird, the latter point being most easily recognized in the young.
The adults range in length from two and one half to three feet, and the wings spread
from six to seven feet. ;

FiG. 132. — Haliaétus vocifer, African sea-eagle.

The smallest member of the genus is the dwarf-eagle, Aguila pennata, a native of
southern Europe, north Africa, and India, which measures only eighteen inches or two
feet in length. Other notable species are the king-eagle, A. heliaca, of southeastern
Europe and Asia, equalling the golden in size, and supposed by many to be the
species once adopted as the emblem of the Roman empire; the imperial eagle,
A. mogilnik, but slightly inferior to the last, and with about the same range;
A. verreauxi, of south Africa, and A. (Uroaétus) audax, the bold or edge-tailed

284 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

eagle of Australia. This latter differs from all the other members of the genus in
having the long tail strongly graduated, the outer feathers being five or six inches
shorter than the middle ones.

Severtzoff, in his “Fauna of Turkestan,” says of the king-eagle, A. heliaca,
“During summer it is found in all parts of Turkestan, but breeds only in the salt
plains near Jorteck. During the breeding-season it is only found near its breeding-
haunts, but frequently wanders and changes its residence during the winter. Like
other eagles, it breeds only every alternate year. So soon as the young are full-
grown they commence to change; but the plumage changes very slowly. During the
winter the moult is arrested, and recommences in the spring of the following year;
and they never breed whilst this moult is progressing.”

Among the sea-eagles, the North American bald-eagle, L/aliaétus leucocephalus, is
a familiar example, and too well known to need description, Of about the same size
as the golden-eagle, it differs much from it in habits, haunting the shores of lakes and
rivers, but especially the sea-shore, living mainly on fish, which it sometimes catches
for itself, sometimes robs the osprey of, and probably most often finds cast up dead
on the shore. The nest is most frequently placed on a high tree, but in sections
where suitable trees are not to be found, it places its nest on rocky cliffs or precipitous
banks. The eggs, which are laid very early in the season, are never (normally) less
than two, which is the regular number, though sometimes three or four are laid.
They are nearly spherical, dull white, unspotted, and average about three inches by
two and three-quarters.

The finest bird of the genus is undoubtedly the northern sea-eagle, aliaétus
pelagicus, of northeastern Asia. It is readily recognized by its large size, with
extremely large bill, cuneate or graduated tail (of fourteen feathers), and white
thighs, shoulders, rump, and tail, the other parts being brown. The African sea-
eagle, ZZ. vocifer, is remarkable for a coloring unusual in this group. The head, neck,
breast, and tail are pure white, the remainder of the under parts, including the
thighs, sides of body, and under wing-coverts, deep chestnut; while the upper parts
are brown or black. It is a comparatively small bird, being little more than half the
size of the bald-eagle, and closely approaching in size the common red-tailed hawk,
Buteo borealis. This is the smallest eagle of the genus unless we except the nearly
related ZZ. vociferoides of Madagascar, which is of the same size and with somewhat
similar colors. Like the other members of the genus, these birds feed largely on fish,
and are seldom found at any great distance from water.

Closely allied to /aliaétus, if indeed it is not really congeneric, is the peculiar
fishing-eagle, Polioaétus ichthyaétus, of India and the East Indies generally, an eagle
with almost the exact habits of the osprey (Pandion), subsisting entirely on fish, and
with its external anatomy much modified to suit its requirements, its talons being
much curved, very sharp, and rounded almost precisely as in that species. Two
species are known.

Here may be mentioned a small group of two or three species very closely allied
on the one hand to Aguila, from which, however, they are distinguished by their
longer legs, and on the other to the hawk-eagles, Spizaétus and allies. The most
familiar member of the group in Europe is Bonelli’s eagle, Nisaétus fasciatus, a
common bird of the Mediterranean region, and extending eastward to India.

Under the name of hawk-eagles are grouped a dozen or more raptors of medium
or large size, and often of striking plumage, belonging to several genera, mainly

EAGLES. 285

Spizaétus (or Limnaétus) and its subdivisions, Lophoaétus, Spiziastur, ete. Several
of the species are beautifully crested, as, for example, Lophoaétus occipitalis, of
South Africa, one of the smaller species, but with a black occipital crest over four
inches long. This is rather a sluggish bird, feeding much on rats, but frequently
helping himself to poultry also. The crowned-eagle, Spizaétus coronatus, which has
nearly the same range as the last, is a much larger bird, with the under parts richly
banded with black on a buff ground, and an ample occipital crest of long, blackish

Fi. 133. — Circaétus gallicus, serpent-eagle. .

brown feathers. Several species are also found in Central and South America, among
which are the crested Spiziaétus (Lophotriorchis) isidori, and S. ornatus.

Probably the Malayan black-eagle, Neopus malayensis, belongs with this group,
though its remarkably small outer toe and claw—almost aborted it would seem —
might be taken as an indication of other affinity. This species is crestless.

An interesting bird, related to those just mentioned, is the short-toed or serpent-
eagle, Circaétus gaillicus, which inhabits the countries about the Mediterranean, and

286 : NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

extends northward into central Europe, and eastward into India. It is plainly but
prettily marked, the under parts being mostly white, profusely spotted with brown, while
the upper parts are pretty uniform dark brown. It feeds almost exclusively on reptiles,
particularly frogs, lizards, and snakes. Canon Tristram, in writing of this bird, says:
“They will often dash down to the field below, sweep for a few minutes like a
harrier, and then, seizing one of the great black ground snakes or a Zropidonotus in

Fi, 134. — Morphnus guianensis, Guiana eagle.

a ditch, sit down and occupy some minutes in killing the reptile, after which they
carry their prize away in their claws, not, like many other eagles, devouring it on the
spot.”

There are several other species of this genus, all crestless or only slightly crested,
while as many more with conspicuous crests have been separated under the generic
name of Spilornis. Members of both genera might properly be called short-toed
eagles, and all seem to have rather similar reptile-feeding habits, with a preference for
snakes.

EAGLES. 287

Amongst the scores of other species belonging to this populous sub-family, it is
only possible for us to notice a few of the most striking or typical. he species thus
far spoken of seem rather closely related to the eagles, and perhaps more especially to
Aquila. There are many others, however, which would naturally be associated with
the buzzards, although from their size many of them are called eagles, and at once
suggest the Haliaétus type; while, finally, not a few are referred by naturalists
almost as often to one group as the other. An example of this latter class is seen in
the short-tailed eagle, Helotarsus ecaudatus, from the lower half of Africa, remarkable
for its rich maroon and black plumage, crested head, extremely short tail, and coral-
red legs and feet.

Tropical and South America furnish us with a group of three remarkably large,
erested species, usually referred to as many genera, which may collectively be fairly
called buzzard-eagles. The smallest is the Guiana eagle, Morphnus guianensis, in
which, however, the tail is longer, both proportionally and actually, than in either of
the others, if not indeed than in any other eagle whatever, the Australian wedge-
tailed eagle possibly excepted. The wings, on the contrary, are, as in the two following
genera, rather short and rounded, these birds being better fitted for pouncing suddenly
and at short range on their prey, than for lofty sailing and long stoops, while the
lengthened but very strong tail must be of great use in the close and tortuous pursuit
of birds among the dense forests which these birds love to make their homes. This
eagle inhabits the dense forests of the Amazon as well as those of Guiana, but is
almost exclusively a forest inhabiter, rarely, if ever, ranging over the open country.

Harpyhaliaétus coronatus is another crested form, but little inferior in size to the
bald-eagle, of a pretty uniform ashy brown color, with white-tipped upper tail-coverts,
and two white bars on the tail, a narrow one at tip, and a broad one in the middle.
Though a powerfully built bird, and on occasion a daring hunter, it frequently, like so
many of its ‘nobler’ relatives, contents itself with carrion. Described by Azara as
long ago as 1802, it is still a rare bird in collections, though fairly abundant in some
parts of southern South America.

The harpy-eagle, Thrasaétus harpyia (also known as Harpyia destructor), is one of
the most powerful birds-of prey in the world. In total length it is slightly greater
than the golden-eagle, owing to the great length of tail. In expanse of wings, how-
ever, it is rather less; but when we come to compare the proportions of beak and
claws, and the strength of the bony framework, it is evident that the harpy is without
arival. Dr. Oswald, in the “ American Naturalist” for March, 1878, thus describes
its physique : —

“A square, strong head, armed with a most viciously curved, powerful bill, that
can crush a man’s finger-bones without any special effort, and dislocate the neck of a
squirrel-monkey by a single wrench. Broad, compact wings, moved by shoulder
muscles of enormous strength, and a pair of stout legs feathered to below the tarsi,
that terminate in claws of such extraordinary power and sharpness that they leave
marks on the skin of a quadruped, and even on the tough leather of a Mexican
saddle, like the bite of a wild-cat. The harpy is often killed for the sake of its
feathers—I mean for the feather-bed value of its plumage — by the Mexican Indians,
and, if plucked, yields about four pounds of soft, grayish-white down, beside the stiff
wing and tail feathers and the bristling tuft which crowns its head. This plumage Is
so elastic, so compact, and so firmly imbricated, that buckshot, striking the wings or
the breast of the bird at a certain angle, glance off or fail to penetrate to vital parts;

288 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

=

and monkeys or foxes which in their death-struggle snap at what they mistake for the
throat of their captor, shut their fangs upon a mass of elastic down, which baffles
their efforts till the grip of the destructor closes upon their own throats.

“The harpy can overtake the swiftest birds of the tropical woods, and in spite of
its size steers its way through the labyrinth of forest trees and hanging vines with

>

Lo
" A
Yip ps

Fig. 135. — Thrasaétus harpyw, harpy-eagle.

a ZF
y

amazing skill, and rarely fails to rise with a pheasant, a woodcock, or a small mammal
in its claws, after plunging like a meteor from the clouds into the leafy maze of the
tierra caliente.”

When adult, its general color above is gray, while the head and neck all round, as
well as the entire underparts, are white, excepting the long crest feathers, and an
indistinct chest-band, which inclines to gray. The tail-feathers are brown, crossed

EAGLES. 289
with six imperfect bands of black, with which color the interspaces also are plenti-
fully mottled. The immature bird is very different — one of the characteristic phases
being almost white below, with a broad band of glossy black feathers across the chest,
the tail with five black bands and a white tip.

According to the writer above quoted, the food of the harpy in southern Mexico
is very varied, for he “attacks and kills heavy old turkey-cocks, young fawns, sloths,
full-grown foxes and badgers, middle-sized pigs, and even the black sapajou monkey
(Ateles paniscus), whose size and weight exceed its own more than three times. He
shows a great latitude of taste, and seems to devour with equal relish a fat iguana
lizard, a young woodcock, or a tough old monkey. He ean catch fish, too; does not
disdain the black water-snakes that glide through the shallow ponds of the coast jun-
gles, and even anticipates the trick of the tortoise-hunters, that uncover the oily eggs
which the caret turtle has covered with the sand of the shallow river banks.

“ But during the larger part of the year he seeks his quarry on the trees of his
native woods, and causes more distress and dire commotion among the tribes of the
gallinaceous tree-birds, raccoons, frugivorous rodents, and monkeys than all their other
enemies taken together. His tyranny over the kingdom of the air tolerates no rival;
the falcons and the Aquila chrysaétos have to confine themselves to the icy rocks of
the upper Sierra, the Strix bubo and other owls are bound under heavy penalties to
keep the peace during daylight, and the sea-eagle is pursued for miles with implaca-
ble fury whenever he ventures to trespass upon the rivers of the ¢ierra caliente.” Of
the breeding habits of this remarkable bird our author gives the following account:
** As soon as the lengthening days of the year approach the vernal equinox, the hen
harpy begins to collect dry sticks and moss, or perhaps only lichens, with a few claws’
full of the feathery bast of the Arauca palm, if her last year’s eyrie has been left undis-
turbed. Her favorite roosting-places, the highest forest trees, especially the Adan-
sonia and the Pinus balsamifera, and the more inaccessible rocks of the foot-hills,
are commonly also chosen for a breeding-place; and it is not easy to distinguish her
compact-built eyrie on the highest branches of a wild fig-tree from the dark-colored
clusters of the Mexican mistletoe ( Visewm rubrum), which frequents the same tree-
tops. The eggs are white, with yellowish-brown dots and washes, and about as long,
though not quite as heavy, as a hen’s egg. Of these eggs the harpy lays four or five,
but never hatches more than two; or, if the Indians can be believed, feeds the first
two eaglets that make their appearance with the contents of the remaining eggs. The
process of incubation is generally finished by the middle of March, if not sooner ;
and from that time to the end of June the rapacity of the old birds is the terror of
the tropical fauna, for their hunting expeditions, which later in the year are restricted
to the early morning hours, now occupy them for the larger part of the day. From
the garden-terrace of #7 Pinal, —a little villa on the ridge of the Organos moun-
tains, —I frequently watched a pair of harpies that had their nest in the crags below.
The hen bird, which could be recognized by her larger size and the greater energy of
her movements, generally made her appearance a few minutes before sunrise, mount-
ed to the upper sky, as if to study the meteorological probabilities for the coming day,
and then proceeded to business. After wheeling at an elevation of some hundred
feet over the tree-tops in a circle, or rather in a contracting spiral, for a couple of
minutes, she commonly would stop short, hover with quivering wings for a second
or two, and then dive into the leafy ocean below, with a headlong rapidity that could
hardly be followed by the eye, but evidently with a practical purpose, for her descents

VOL. Iv. —19

290 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

were generally succeeded by the ascent of a cloud of birds, or the shrill piping of the
squirrel-monkeys ( Callithrix sciurus), and the exultant scream of the wild huntress
from the depths of the forest. Then followed a pause, devoted to domestic duties,
during which the thanksgiving duet of the eaglets ascended from the cliffs, and very
soon after one or both parents reappeared in the upper air to resume the work of
destruction. " The callow harpies, with their pendant crops, their misshapen, big heads,
and their preposterous claws, resemble embryo demons or infantine chimeras, rather
than any creatures of nature; but they grow very rapidly, and their appetite during
the first six months of their existence, is almost insatiable.

“The Incas and Aztec noblemen trained harpy-eagles like falcons, and preferred
them to tame panthers, which were used by pot-hunters to capture deer and young
peccaries. Devega, the biographer of Cortez, says that the satrap of a Mexican
province presented the Great Captain with a hunting-eagle called £7 ZZidalgo del aire,
the prince of the air, whose value was estimated at the price of ten slaves; and adds,
that the only bodily injury which Cortez ever received, during his adventures in Mex-
ico, was inflicted by this eagle,” which, dying from a wound inflicted by Cortez in a
fit of passion, “ before he resigned himself to death, raised his head once more, grabbed
the first finger of the right hand of his cruel master, and bit it through, —erushed it
completely, ‘so as not’to leave the world unavenged,’ as Devega says.”

The range of this species is from southern Mexico southward over all the tropical
forests of America, —as far, at least, as Bolivia and southern Brazil.

Turning now to birds which more nearly conform to our idea of buzzards, we may
mention the genus Urubitinga (in which we include Leucopternis), a group peculiar
to tropical America, whence about a dozen species are known. They are good-sized
buzzards, which at once suggest the Buteones by their size, proportions, and habits.
Among them are some very beautiful birds; for example, U. ghiesbreghti of Mexico,
which is snowy white with the exception of wings and tail, which have bold markings
of deep black. UW. anthracina, the anthracite-buzzard of Cuba, Central America, and
southward, is the very opposite of this species as regards color, being deep black all
over, with the exception of a broad white band across the middle of the tail, and a
narrow white edging at its tip. This bird has been taken in Arizona.

Other American genera, closely allied to the foregoing, but which we have only
space to mention, are Asturina, Buteogallus, Buteola, and Busarellus, —this last being
remarkable for the long-hooked bill, as well as for having the soles of the feet thickly
studded with rough papille or spicules in the manner of the osprey, — evident adapta-
tions for the better catching of fish, which constitute its ordinary food. Gruber’s
buzzard ( Onychotes grubert), is interesting, not only for its peculiarities of structure —
which leave it without near relatives among the buzzards—but because only two
specimens have ever been discovered, both probably taken in California. “The elon-
gated legs, reaching considerably beyond the rather short tail, the close thigh-plumes,
the long and extremely acute claws (somewhat like those of Rostrhamus,) with the
short, rounded, and very concave wing, are its most striking peculiarities.”

The genus Archibuteo, consisting of only two species, resembles the typical buz-
zards (Buteo) in nearly all points but one, namely the feathering of the tarsi, for
these differ from those of all others of the subfamily, except Aquila, in being densely
feathered in front to the very base of the toes; the hinder aspect of the tarsus, how-
ever, is entirely unfeathered. The wings are also proportionally longer than in Buteo,
in this respect also resembling the genus Aguila. Both species are found in North

BUZZARDS. 291

America, — the squirrel-hawk, or ferrugineous buzzard (Archibuteo ferrugineus), being
confined to the western side of the continent, while the rough-legged buzzard (A.
lagopus) reaches from Atlantic to Pacific, and is found in Europe as well. In its nor-
mal plumage it is generally ashy-brown, with various lighter and darker markings,
and a tendency to form a dark zone across the lower breast and abdomen, while the
tail is largely white toward the root. But melanism is of very frequent occurrence,
and in this condition the bird is almost entirely black. After much controversy, and

Fia. 136. — Archibuteo lagopus, rough-legged buzzard.

many years of uncertainty, it is now definitely settled that this black phase is entirely
independent of age, sex, or locality, though it is well to note, in this connection, that
in Europe, where the light-colored bird is abundant, black individuals are of extremely
rare occurrence, only one or two such being on record.

In America, the rough-legged buzzard seldom nests as far south as the United
States, but from the plains of the Saskatchewan northward it breeds abundantly, com-
monly placing its bulky nest in trees, but sometimes on cliffs, or even at the edge of

292 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

a precipitous mud-bank on the border of a stream or lake, The eggs vary in number
from three to five, and are of a creamy-white color, sometimes with faint and obscure
darker blotches, usually quite heavily marked with spots and dashes of brown.

The last group of this sub-family which we shall take up is the genus Buteo,
which includes the true buzzards, the number of which varies according to the esti-
mates of different authorities as to varieties and geographical races. Probably there
are at least twenty-five well-marked species distributed in all parts of the world,
except Australia, and perhaps half this number are found in America.

The common ‘hen-hawks’ (Buteo borealis and B. lineatus) of the eastern United
States are familiar examples of the genus, and represent about the average size. Their

FiG. 137. — Buteo vulgaris, common buzzard.

habits are too well known to need extended description, and they may be seen, sum-
mer or winter, sweeping in graceful curves over the country, rising and falling in
spirals, unless after noting prey, when they sometimes dart down hundreds of yards in
a very few seconds. Although they feed much on birds and rabbits, and are frequent
visitors to the farm-yard, they seem to have a special predilection for squirrels; and
in regions extensively wooded with pines, where the red-squirrel is most abundant,
these noisy little rodents must form a large part of the Buteo’s food.

Probably the white-tailed buzzard, B. pterocles (albocaudatus) of South America
represents nearly the maximum size in the genus, its length being about two feet, the
wing eighteen and one half inches, and tail seven; but females of the African and
Himalayan £B. ferox, which is not uncommon in south-eastern Europe, sometimes

FISH-HA WK. 293

exceed this size, the tail especially being longer. If now we take the broad-winged
buzzard (B. pennsylvanicus), only sixteen inches long, wing eleven inches, and tail
seven, we have about the minimum.

The type of the genus is the common buzzard (L. vulgaris), of Europe, now quite
scarce in Great Britain, and entirely confined, as a resident, to a few large wooded
tracts. In northern Africa and eastern Europe it is replaced by the smaller African
buzzard (B. desertorum), probably only a geographical variety of vwgaris. In Amer-
ica, too, a species (Swainson’s buzzard, B. swainsoni), is recognized, which is very
near the European vedgaris, if not actually the same. Like some other North Amer-
ican Falconide, it has a large range, occurring under one name or another from the
Arctic Ocean to Patagonia. Nearly all the species of this large genus are more or
less subject to melanism, a good example of a rather stable race of this kind being
the western form of the red-tailed hawk (B. borealis), known usually under the sub-
specific title of cadwrus, a buzzard of very different appearance from the eastern type,
but specifically identical, as shown by the intermediate forms, which show every pos-
sible gradation. Such cases as these, coupled with the great differences due to age,
and the wide individual variations, have brought confusion little less than hopeless
into our lists.

Although but one species of osprey (Pandion) probably exists, yet its peculiari-
ties warrant its separation from the eagles, with which it has usually been associated,
and necessitate the formation of a sub-family (Pandionine) for its reception. This
may be characterized as follows: Outer toe reversible, all the toes without basal webs ;
superciliary shield rudimentary; tibia long, closely and evenly feathered; plumage
without aftershafts. As there is but one genus, with a single species, the following
characters may be added without attempting to grade them: The bill is strong, tooth-
less, but with a very long, sharp hook; the tarsus reticulate, feet very large, toes with
the under surface roughened by close-set papilla; all the claws of the same length,
(unique among Falconide), long, much curved, and extremely sharp, not grooved
beneath, but smooth, and nearly round, the middle one channelled on the inside.
Feathers rather harsh and stiff; wings long and pointed ; tail rather short.

It is difficult to imagine a hawk or an eagle better fitted for its trade than is the
well-known fish-hawk or osprey. The plumage is such that the bird may remain
immersed for several seconds in the water without wetting the feathers, and the pow-
erful wings enable it to rise lightly after its plunge, and lift with ease the slippery
prey which is helpless in the grasp of the marvellously perfect feet.

The, osprey is found in almost all countries of the globe, but as yet it is not known
to occur in Iceland or New Zealand. It breeds, however, in such widely separated
places as Hudson’s Bay and the Red Sea, Kamtschatka and Florida. The habits of
the bird seem to vary somewhat in different countries, and through persecution in
some places, or peculiarly favorable cireumstances in others, the location of the nest
varies considerably. All along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States it breeds
abundantly ; and the nests, conspicuously placed on the tops of large, dead trees, are
visible from long distances, and where the species is abundant several nests may fre-
quently be seen from the same point. Indeed, instances are known of scores or
even hundreds of pairs nesting close together, and in organized communities.

The European bird, on the contrary, is nowhere abundant, being usually met with
only singly or in pairs, and much more frequently about fresh water than along the
seashore. In Great Britain the bird is now rarely met with, except as a straggler,

294 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

though a few pairs are still known to breed each summer on some of the least fre-
quented Scottish lakes. But the secret of these localities is jealously guarded by the
possessors, as the eggs are among the most coveted prizes of the British collector, and
no hardship is too great to be endured in obtaining them.

In Europe this species usually nests on cliffs or rocky islets in fresh-water lakes,
rarely on trees, while in America precisely the reverse is true of it. The eggs are
from two to four — usually three — generally so heavily blotched with deep brown
and red as almost to hide the lighter ground-color. The European bird is rather
smaller than the American, and there is a corresponding difference in the size of
the egg.

The food of the osprey consists almost entirely of fish, which it catches for itself,
usually by a headlong plunge. I am not aware that any particular species is pre-
ferred, but the smaller sizes are undoubtedly oftenest captured. It is said that ocea-
sionally an osprey miscaleulates the size of its prey, and strikes its talons into a fish
which it is unable to manage — in which case, being unable to withdraw them [?], it is
ignominiously drowned. The pictures, therefore, which one often sees, representing
this bird seated triumphantly on a dead salmon of a weight apparently of fifteen or
twenty pounds, which it has incidentally transported to a convenient mountain-top,
are presumably artistic licenses, — not photographs.

The long and closely feathered tibia, the reversible outer toe, long and peculiar
claws, and roughened soles, seem perfectly adapted for effective fishing; and when we
add to this the strength of wing, compactness of plumage, and remarkable power of
sight possessed by this bird, we must admit that here is indeed a “complete angler”
in one volume.

The harriers, Circinse, form a small group of slender, graceful, non-arboreal Falcon-
idx, which may be further described as having the bill rather weak, without any
notch, but with the tomia usually strongly sinuate. The legs are long and rather
weak, the tarsus about as long as the tibia, unfeathered, and scutellate both in front
and behind; the toes are rather short, and the claws, though of no great size, are very
sharp; the wings and tail are long, the former straight and but slightly concave, thus
giving an easy, gliding flight which the birds seem able to keep up indefinitely, or at
least until they strike something worth stopping to eat; the plumage is soft and loose,
and the face has an imperfect ruff, which faintly suggests the owls.

The sub-family consists essentially of the genus Circus, which is probably indivi-
sible into larger groups than species. Of these there are from ten to twenty, —at
present we have not the material to say with certainty how many there may be. Usn-
ally the sexes are unlike in color (quite unusual among Falconidw) and size, the
females being larger and darker; and the young also differ materially from the adults,
though in a general way resembling the females. Add to this the wide range of some
species, with the resultant climatic variation, and the determination of species becomes
a problem of no ordinary difficulty.

North America has but one species, the marsh hawk or harrier, Cireus eyaneus
(hudsonius), now considered to be a mere geographical race of the common hen-
harrier, Circus eyaneus, of Europe. The North American form is abundant in suita-
ble localities; that is, rather flat open country, from the Arctic circle to Panama,
southward from which point, as far as La Plata, it is replaced in similar situations by
a larger and totally different species, C. maculosus, when we again meet with a variety
of eyaneus —slightly smaller, perhaps, than the northern form, yet doubtless speciti-

HAWKS. 295

-~

eally the same—to which the name cinereus is usually applied. This form, with
maculosus, abounds on the pampas and plains of Patagonia as far as the strait of
Magelhaen, and also occurs, without macwosus, in the Falkland Islands.

All the harriers are remarkably similar in habits, preferring comparatively level,
open country, and with a fondness for wet grounds. They rarely rise to any great
height in the air, being usually content to sweep along close to the ground, now glid-
ing for several minutes with scarcely a motion of the wings, then flapping vigorously
for an instant, turning and returning and quartering the whole ground, ever watching
for frog or mouse or sitting bird, and following each discovery by a rapid dart, or a
drop and clutch, which is usually effective. Ordinarily the feet are not visible at such
times, but sometimes the bird fails to make a capture, and, recovering itself before
touching the ground, you may see the dangling legs quickly drawn up to the body
again. The expanse of wing is unusually large for the size of the body, a specimen
which spreads four feet from tip to tip seldom weighing more than a pound or a pound
and a half. The nest is almost invariably built on the ground, and the eggs, three
to five in number, are nearly white, either faintly blotched and spotted, or immaculate.

Three species are generally credited to Europe; one has been mentioned already,
a second is the ash-colored or Montague’s harrier, C. cinerascens, and the largest is the
so-called marsh harrier, C. @ruginosus.

Jardine’s harrier, C. assimilis, of Australia, is noteworthy for its deviation from
the ordinary coloring in the group, the head and much of the upper parts being dark
chestnut with deep black streaks, while the under parts are bright rufous, sprinkled all
over with round white spots.

Associated with the harriers by many authors we find a single long-legged, long-
winged, slenderly built bird of South Africa and Madagascar, to which the generic
name Polyboroides has been given, from its superficial resemblance to the caracara
(Polyborus) of America. The strong bill with the naked skin about its base, and
extending back around the eyes, does indeed suggest the face of Polyborus, but other
points in structure and habits seem to ally it more nearly to the harriers.

Under the head of kites are usually included twenty or thirty species of Faleoni-
dx, of most parts of the world, principally from the warmer regions. Although
generally recognized as a sub-family, the elements contained in it are very dissimilar,
some of the members showing Buteonine tendencies, while others suggest the falcons.
Compare, for example, the European black kite, Milvus migrans, with the fish-eating
eagle, Haliastur indus, of India, often called the red-backed or Brahminy kite; also
the Mississippi kite, Zetinia subcaerulea, with any species of typical falcon.

In general the kites are very long-winged and small-footed Falconide, with a short
and not very strong Dill, which is never truly notched like a falcon’s, though the
approach to it is sometimes quite close. In addition, the superciliary shield is very
variable, being small or almost wanting in the more typical genera, but evident or even
prominent in others. The tarsus is much shorter than the tibia, generally more or less
feathered, and the exposed portion reticulate. The toes are short, but the claws are
sometimes lengthened and always sharp. The wings are usually narrow and ‘pointed,
and the tail varies from square to emarginate, and often very deeply forked. Kites
are birds of very strong flight; many of them feed largely on insects, and eat their
prey from their claws while flying. Not unfrequently they are gregarious, especially
during their migrations.

The true kites are limited to the Old World, where they are represented by half a

296 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

dozen species of the single genus Milvus, of which the common or red kite, Milvus
ictinus, is the type. This is a bird of comparatively small body, but with wide-
spreading wings, and long, deeply-forked tail; the female, which is largest, measuring
about twenty-seven inches in length, and having an expanse of wings of over five
fect. The general color is reddish brown streaked with black, the tail being rather
lighter red, barred with deep brown. These tail feathers are in considerable demand
for use in the manufacture of salmon flies.

FIG, 138. — Milvus migrans, black kite, and M. ictinus, common kite.

This species was formerly one of the most familiar of British birds of prey, hay-
ing, it is said, been abundant as a scavenger in the streets of London three or four
hundred years ago; but, according to Professor Newton, it is now one of the rarest,
being restricted to a few wooded districts, where a small remnant still exists. The
same authority says Wolley has well remarked of the modern Londoners that “few
who see the paper toys hovering over the parks in fine days of summer have any idea
that the bird from which they derive their name used to float all day in hot weather
high over the heads of their ancestors.” :

KITES. 297

Another European species is the black kite, Wilvws migrans, which also extends all
over Africa. This is of smaller size, darker plumage, and the tail is less deeply
forked. Other species are the Arabian kite, IZ @gyptius, of Africa, and the pariah
kite, JL govinda, of India. These four are all quite similar in general appearance
and habits. They are very active birds, spending much of the time on the wing,
feeding principally on small mammals, reptiles, and insects, to which diet several
species add fish, while all are much addicted to such refuse as may be picked up about
human habitations. Indeed the pariah kite of India does valuable service of this kind
directly in the towns and villages of the country, earning thus its common name of
village kite. In catching fish and frogs, a favorite habit of the black kite, the bird
glides down to the water and seizes with a thrust of the foot one which has risen to
the surface, rarely if ever plunging into the water in the manner of the osprey.
Milvus isurus is a very closely allied but, crested form, inhabiting Australia.

Turning now to the less typical members of the sub-family, we may notice first the
beautiful little black-winged kites (anus) of the warmer parts of both Old and New
Worlds. Several species are usually recognized, but all are so similar to each other
that it would be difficult to discriminate between them at gunshot range. They are
seldom more than fifteen inches in length, of which nearly half is tail, and the body
color is either white or very light gray, sometimes silvery or pearly, while the shoulders
are always black. They feed mostly on insects and some of the smallest reptiles and
mammals. The black-winged kite, Llanus cwruleus, of Africa and southern Europe,
may be taken as the type. The only American species is the very similar white-tailed
or black-shouldered kite, Hlanus leucurus. A very different yet related bird is the
Mississippi kite, Jctinia subcerulea (mississippiensis), which is rather smaller, and
readily distinguishable by the decidedly darker general color, with the larger part of
the wings and tail black, the latter with spots on the inner webs of the feathers.

Unquestionably the most beautiful bird of the group is the swallow-tailed kite,
Elanoides forficatus, of the warmer parts of America, extending up the Mississippi
valley even to Minnesota. The beautiful black and white plumage, extremely long
and slender-pointed wings, and deeply forked tail, suffice for the recognition of this
bird at a single glance. It is one of the two largest American kites, its length from
bill to tip of tail being about two feet, while the wings expand rather over four feet.
The head, neck, and entire under parts are pure white; the back, wings, and tail,
lustrous black ; the rump with a white patch. Its flight is unrivalled in swiftness and
grace, and it usually takes its prey, consisting largely of insects, on the wing, tearing
and swallowing it as it flies. Occasionally, however, when capturing a snake or lizard,
it may be seen to alight for an instant. It nests in trees, laying several spotted eggs,
but these are rare in collections, and the nesting habits of the species are but imper-
fectly known. It frequently associates in large numbers, while feeding on insects and
while migrating, and there is some reason to suppose that it may occasionally breed
in communities, though during the breeding-season it is usually met with only in
pairs.

While traveling among the mountains of Guatemala, Mr. R. Owen observed a
large flock — more than two hundred —of these birds engaged in the pursuit of
a swarm of bees, which they caught singly with their feet, and, bringing the foot for-
ward and bending the head downwards and backwards to meet it, they easily and
rapidly transferred the prey to the bill.

A closely allied, fork-tailed species is the Nauclerus riocouri of west Africa, a bird

298 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

of very similar form and habits to the swallow-tail, but much smaller and of less strik-
ing appearance, the upper parts being merely ashy and dusky, entirely lacking the
deep black so conspicuous in the American bird.

In the kites thus far mentioned, the bill is comparatively short and broad, though
not particularly strong. There is a group of American kites, however, which are very
different from these, and in which the bill is lengthened, slender, and with a remarka-
bly long and sharp hook. The hook-billed kite, Rostrhamus hamatus, of South
America, is a good example of the group, and appears to have precisely the same
habits as its somewhat more northern relative, the everglade-kite, Z?. sociabilis, which

Fig. 139. — Ietinia subcwrulea, Mississippi kite, and Elanoides forficatus, swallow-tailed kite.

occurs in some numbers in the Everglades of Florida. These birds seem to be
unusually sociable for birds of prey, several being usually observed together, but it is
questionable if this habit is more strongly developed here than in other species of the
Milvine.

Perhaps the most interesting thing in connection with the present genus is the
entirely unexpected nature of its food. We should naturally expect a bird of this
conformation to take much of its food on the wing, and should be prepared to find
that winged insects or active reptiles, such as lizards, made up the bulk of it, although
neither of these suppositions would provide an adequate explanation of the long-

a

KITES. 299

hooked bill or the long-clawed feet. It is, therefore, not a little disconcerting to find
these rapid and expert flyers preying chiefly on some of the slowest of existing
animals, namely, fresh-water snails. In Florida, Mr. Maynard found that their food
consisted largely of Pomus depressus, while on the Rio Uruguay I found them eating
a species of Ampullaria, and at one time shot a specimen as he circled overhead with
a large mollusc of this kind in his claws. Having observed the facts, it is easy to see
the adaptation of the long, slender hook with which the bill is provided, as well as the
use of the sharp and lengthened but slightly curved claws; while we have an example
of the uncertainty which may attend that kind of r sasoning from structure to function,
which is, unfortunately, too often depended upon.

a
:

Fic. 140. — Pernis apivorus, bee kite.

Allied to Rostrhamus are the species of the American genus, Cymindis, which
pass through so many changes of plumage, and are so perplexing in their variations
that it would seem unwise for any person without scores or even hundreds of speci-
mens before him to venture an opinion as to the actual number of species or geo-
graphical races. The genus is restricted to tropical America, and one species, C. cay-
ennensis, is the largest of the New World kites, approaching the dimensions of J/ilvus
ictinus of Europe.

The honey-buzzard or bee kite, Pernis apivorus, inhabiting Europe and Africa, and
ranging from the Arctic Circle to the Cape of Good Hope, is a bird which has charac-
ters allying it both to the buzzards and to the kites, while in many points it differs so
decidedly from either that not a few ornithologists make it the type of a distinct sub-
family, Pernine.

300 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

In its general form it resembles the Buteones, but is more slenderly built, and has
a longer tail, in both of which respects it resembles the kites. The sides of the head,
however, are softly and densely feathered to the very base of the bill, in this respect
differing entirely from most members of both these groups, though we see an approach
to this character in Llanoides. It gets its name of honey-buzzard from its habit of
digging up or breaking open the nests of wasps and bees, on the larvae of which it
delights to feed, and in the gathering of which the densely feathered head is proof
against the stings of the infuriated insects. It probably also enjoys the honey, which
it certainly eats, for large quantities have been found in its stomach, accompanied by
but very few larvae, though it has usually been supposed that the honey was only
eaten by accident with the young bees. This fondness for larvee is not satisfied with
bees alone, for the bird eats laryee of various other insects, as well as worms, small
reptiles, and mammals, and has even been found gorged with maggots, which were
obtained from the carcass of a dead animal. It also robs the nests of the smaller
birds, and is much persecuted by them in consequence.

It is a migratory species, spending the winter in Africa, and moving northward in
the spring, frequently traveling in large, loose flocks. Of these migrations as observed
at Heligoland,—that little rock in the North Sea so famous as a resting-place for
tired migrants, —Mr. J. Cordeaux tells us “ Mr. Giitke says this is by far the most
common of the buzzards, not, however, appearing in the spring before it really has
become warm, returning southward again in August and September. Besides single
specimens, and two and three at a time, there are during both periods of migration,
not very unfrequently, such flights that they may almost be termed thousands, not
all massed together, but passing over from mid-day to evening in batches of from five
to fifteen, or twenty to fifty, one following the other so closely that the first batch is
not out of sight before the third or even the fourth begins to show already. The ver-
nal migration takes place about the latter pa of May, or a little earlier, on warm
days with a calm clear sky and easterly wind.”

Contrary to the general rule among birds of prey, it is very late in nesting , its
eggs being seldom laid until the young of other hawks and buzzards are nicohen or
even half grown, The nest, — frequently the deserted one of another kite, —is placed
in a tree, and in it two or three beautifully marked eggs are laid. These have long
been counted as special prizes by European collectors, and perhaps it is largely owing
to this demand for its eggs that the species has of late years ceased to breed abun-
dantly in places where it formerly did so. By the time the nest is built, the oaks and
beeches are in full leaf, and the nest consequently difficult to find, and its safety is
still further assured by a curious habit of the birds themselves, which leads them to
line and decorate the nest with an abundance of fresh green leaves, which they renew
as fast as they become faded. This is done first before the eggs are laid, and is kept
up sometimes until after they are hatched, though more commonly only for a short
time after laying. One or two other species of this genus are known.

The sub-family Polyborinw, carrion-buzzards, is a small group of eight or nine
species, all confined to America, and only two of them found above Panama. In
their habits they combine characteristics of the New World vultures with those of
ordinary buzzards and eagles. Structurally they are easily separable from both, and
although externally they suggest the Aquilina, Ridgway has shown that osteologically
they are nearer the falcons.

They may readily be recognized by the webbing between the toes, this being found

CARRION BUZZARDS. 301

between the inner and middle toe, as well as between outer and middle, as in most
other Faleonidx except the osprey. In addition to this, the bill is not usually toothed
(the only exception being in Milvago, where there is a trace of a tooth); the legs are
rather long, tarsi little feathered in front above, mostly reticulate, or with small scales,
only really scutellate just above the toes, in front; the hind toe much shorter than
any of the others, which are variable in length. The sides of the head are also more
or less destitute of feathers. Two or three of the species reach the size at which most
buzzards gain popular recognition as eagles, but the others are smaller.

The species have been rather naturally grouped in three genera, namely, Polyborus,
with one or two species, Milvago, with five or six, and Zbycter, with two. Polyborus
and Milvago are chiefly terrestrial; Zdycter completely arboreal. The legs in all are
decidedly long, the toes short in the terrestrial forms, longer in the arboreal. The
bill of Polyborus is much the strongest, being high, laterally compressed, and with
narrow, almost linear nostrils, while the other genera have the bill of a more ordinary
type, and the nostrils cireular. In all the genera there is a patch of naked skin over
the crop, not noticeable, however, while the crop is empty. There is also more or
less unfeathered and often brightly colored skin about the face. This is least noticea-
ble in Milvago chimango, more prominent in the other species of Milvago and in
Polyborus, and reaches its maximum in Jbycter americanus, where not only the face
and sides of head are bare, but also a large part of the throat.

The ecaracara eagle, Polyborus tharus, is an abundant bird all over South America,
and one of its races extends as far north as Texas and Florida. It is strongly and
rather clumsily built, spending much of its time on the ground, where it walks about
easily in search of food. On the wing it does not usually give the impression of much
strength or skill, but it does often rise to a great height, and during the pairing
season frequently goes through a variety of aérial evolutions. It feeds on animal
matter of any kind, freshly killed or putrid, is often seen associating with the vultures
( Cathartes), and, like them, not unfrequently attacks weak or sickly animals. On the
plains of La Plata it is hated and detested by the sheep farmers for its habit of
attacking new-born lambs, many of which, in spite of every precaution, are annually
killed in this way. Darwin says of this species: “Their vulture-like, necrophagus
habits are very evident to any one who has fallen asleep on the desolate plains of
Patagonia, for when he wakes he will see, on each surrounding hillock, one of these
birds patiently watching him with an evil eye. . . . At times the carrancha is noisy,
but is not generally so; its ery is loud, very harsh, and peculiar, and may be likened
to the sound of the Spanish guttural g, followed by a rough double 7; when uttering
this ery it elevates its head higher and higher, till at last, with its beak wide open,
the crown almost touches the lower part of the back. This fact, which has been
doubted, is quite true; I have seen them several times with their heads backwards in
a completely inverted position.” To this we may add that although this last singular
fact is confirmed, if confirmation were necessary, by many other observers, it can
scarcely be a very common performance, since we ourselves, during an uninterrupted
acquaintance of about eighteen months with this bird, never saw more than a slight
elevation of the head while its ery was uttered.

It makes a bulky nest on low or medium-sized trees, and lays two or three hand-
some, brown-spotted eggs, very variable in precise color and amount of markings.
The general color of the caracara, or carrancha, as it is called on the Plata, is
blackish brown above, with fine cross-bars of black and grayish white below. The

302 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

crown of the head is dull black, the bill variable, but usually bluish white, the cere
and bare space about the eye, orange-red. The northern race (auduboni) seems
to differ but little in habits or appearance from the southern bird, but perhaps the
plumage is rather less barred.

In Milvago we have a very different bird, though the habits vary considerably,
according to species and locality. Most of the species are much smaller than the
caracara, and decidedly more active. When food is scarce, they may be seen on the
wing almost all day, sweeping about from place to place, often hovering in the

o>

Fic, 141. — Polyborus auduboni, caracara.

manner of kites and buzzards, or walking about on the ground like so many crows.
They are almost completely terrestrial in habits, sometimes even nesting on the
ground,

The chimango, Milvago chimango, the smallest species of the genus, is the
common bird of southern South America, and especially abundant from Paraguay
southward. Further north it is replaced by JL chimachima, while in the Falkland
Islands a much larger species, JZ australis, is common. Of this latter species, Mr.
Darwin says: “They live on the flesh of dead animals and on marine productions ;

and on the Ramirez rocks their whole sustenance must depend on the sea. They are

ee

CARRION BUZZARDS. 303

extraordinarily tame and fearless, and haunt the neighborhood of houses for offal
If a hunting party kills an animal, a number soon collect and patiently await, standing

. . . . a a
on the ground on all sides. After eating, their uncovered craws are largely protruded,

>

giving them a disgusting appearance. They readily attack wounded birds; a cormo-
rant in this state, having taken to the shore, was immediately seized on by several,
and its death hastened by their blows. :

Fia. 142.— Milvago australis, and M. chimachima, chimachima.

“The Beagle was at the Falklands only during the summer, but the officers of the
Adventure, who were there in the winter, mention many extraordinary instances of
the boldness and rapacity of these birds. They actually pounced on a dog that was
lying fast asleep close by one of the party; and the sportsmen had difficulty in pre-
venting the wounded geese from being seized before their eyes. It is said that
several together (in this respect resembling the carranchas) wait at the mouth of a
rabbit-hole, and together seize on the animal when it comes out. They were con-
stantly flying on board the vessel when in the harbor; and it was necessary to keep a

304 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

good lookout to prevent the leather being torn from the rigging, and the meat or
game from the stern. These birds are very mischievous and inquisitive; they will
pick up almost anything from the ground; a large, black glazed hat was carried
nearly a mile, as was a pair of the heavy balls used in catching cattle. Mr. Usborne
experienced during the survey a more severe loss in their stealing a small Kater’s
compass in a red morocco leather case, which was never recovered. These birds are,
moreover, quarrelsome and very passionate, tearing up the grass with their bills from
rage. They are not truly gregarious; they do not soar, and their flight is heavy and
clumsy; on the ground they run extremely fast, very much like pheasants. . . . It is
a curious circumstance that when crying out they throw their heads upwards and
backwards, after the same manner as the carrancha.”

The species of Jbycter, two in number, are inhabitants of the heavily wooded
country of tropical South America; the smaller species, Zbycter ater, apparently not
extending north of Panama, while Zbycter americana, approaching the caracara in
dimensions, is found in Guatemala and Honduras as well. The plumage in both
species is simple black and white, the black with greenish reflections. In ater, this
includes the entire plumage except a white band at the base of the tail. In americana
the colors are “black with steel green reflections, the abdomen, thighs, and under
tail-coverts white; throat and bare space before the eye, deep red; cere, blue;
mandibles, yellow; iris, deep red.” These birds keep by preference to the trees, and
are said to feed largely on insects instead of carrion.

The hawks, Accipitrinee, might be defined as those Falconids, except true falcons,
not already described, and differing from the true faleons in not having a toothed or
notched bill. Or, we might say that they were very much like the harriers, Circina,
as to bill, body, tail, and perhaps legs; but with very different wings. But, to be
more explicit, the birds which we group here under the name Accipitrine, agree with
the harriers in the slender form, weak and un-toothed bill, long tail and legs, tarsus
about the same length as the tibia, and superciliary shield prominent. The absence of
the facial ‘ruff’ would at once separate them from the Circins, but an equally impor-
tant difference, not only from the harriers but from the faleons and buzzards, is seen
in the wings, which instead of being long, straight, and tapering, as in the harriers
and falcons, or broad, flat, and obtuse as in the buzzards, are short and rather rounded,
but very concave beneath, so that their flight is rapid and almost ‘ whirring,’ without
the power of lofty soaring or of long continued and easy gliding. The cutting edge
of the bill is also usually furnished with a prominent lobe or ‘festoon ;’ the middle
toe is often very long, the ‘pads’ under the joints on all the toes very strongly de-
veloped; and the tarsal envelope very various, usually more or less feathered, and the
bare part scutellate in front or behind or both, sometimes with the plates fused to-
gether to form a ‘ booted’ tarsus (as in the true thrushes), or even in some cases par-
tially reticulate.

_ - The hawks, while numerous individually and even specifically (there are sixty or
seventy species), are all contained in a very few genera, probably nine tenths of them
in the genera Astur (goshawks), and Accipiter (sparrow-hawks). The distinctions
between these two groups, moreover, are very slight, so slight indeed that there are
very many species which to ordinary eyes seem to have as good a right under one
name as the other. In general, Astwr contains the larger and especially the stouter
forms, in which the tarsus is more extensively feathered. There are, moreover, other
points, such as the condition of the tarsal envelope, which should be taken into ac-

HAWKS. 805

count. As an illustration of the lack of uniformity among systematists with regard
to these genera, it may be mentioned that of two prominent authorities who published
their views at about the same time (1874), one refers but six species to Astwr, while
the other includes thirty-one. The latter author, however, allows but twenty-three
species to the genus Accipiter, while the former admits forty-five. For our present
purposes it makes little difference which we follow in this respect, though there seems
to be little doubt now that only a few species ought to be included among the gos-
hawks. The word goshawk is evidently only a corruption of goose-hawk, and though

Fic. 143. — Astur palumbarius, goshawk.

now only applied to birds of the genus Astur, it seems probable, as Professor Newton
remarks, that it was originally given to one of the large true falcons, which might
reasonably be supposed to prey on geese, as such game is evidently beyond the capacity
of Astur.

The goshawk of the northern United States, Astwr atricapillus, is by many be-
lieved to be merely a geographical race of the European goshawk, A. palumbarius.
If so, it is certainly a larger and handsomer form, and in habits the two are very simi-
lar. The adult American bird is one of the handsomest of our birds of prey, the
whole top of the head being pure, deep black, the rest of the upper parts pure bluish

VOL, Iv. —20

806 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

slate, darkening on the tail; below, the color is pure white, closely and finely barred
crosswise with slate. The chin and throat lack the crossbars, but each feather has a
dark shaft-stripe, while running backward from above and behind the eye is a broad
white stripe finely pencilled with black. The wings and tail are dark, the latter with
four or five obscure black bands. The female, w hich ‘is largest, measures about two
feet in length, with a spread of about four feet. Like most of the other members of
this group, the goshawk is extremely active and daring. Strong of wing and stout of
heart, it is both bold and cunning, and its attack once determined on is usually sue-
cessful. It is a northern bird, ranging southward in winter, yet doubtless often breed-
ing within the limits of the United States. Audubon says of its habits, —

“The flight of the goshawk is extremely rapid and protracted. He sweeps along
the margins of the fields, through the woods, and by the edges of ponds and rivers,
with such speed as to enable him to seize his prey by merely deviating a few yards
from his course, assisting himself on such occasions by his long tail, which, like a
rudder, he throws to the right or left, upwards or downwards, to check his progress,
or enable him suddenly to alter his course. At times he passes like a meteor through
the underwood, where he secures squirrels and hares with ease. Should a flock of
wild pigeons pass him when on these predatory excursions he immediately gives chase,
soon overtakes them, and, forcing his way into the very centre of the flock, scatters
them in confusion, when you may see him emerging with a bird in his talons, and
diving towards the depth of the forest to feed upon his victim. When traveling, he
flies high, with a constant beat of the wings, seldom moying in large cireles like other
hawks, and when he does this it is only a few times in a hurried manner, after which
he continues his journey. .. .

“Tt is a restless bird, apparently more vigilant and industrious than many other
hawks, and seldom alights unless to devour its prey; nor can I recollect ever having
seen one alighted for many minutes at a time, without having a bird in its talons.

“When thus engaged with its prey, it stands nearly upright, and in general, when
perched, it keeps itself more erect than most species of hawk. It is extremely expert
at catching snipes on the wing, and so well do these birds know their insecurity, that,
on his approach, they prefer squatting.” The goshawk nests in trees, laying three or
four bluish-white eggs, rarely faintly blotched and spotted with brown.

In the higher parts of Ceylon and India, and in many of the East Indian Islands,
is found the smaller Astur trivirgatus, with a conspicuous occipital crest; but the
most singular member of the genus is the Australian goshawk, Astur nove-hollandia,
sometimes known as the New Holland white-eagle. This is apparently a permanent
albino, for the adult plumage is pure white, the cere, gape, and legs yellow, the bill
black, and the iris pink. The young bird is mostly white below and brown above, but
nearly all the dark feathers are white at base.

The genus Accipiter includes species of mostly small size and slender form, but
otherwise remarkably like the goshawks in structure and habits. In England they are
known as sparrow-hawks, from the common species, Accipiter nisus, which is the
sparrow-hawk of the country. In the United States we generally use the name
sparrow-hawk for a true falcon; the little Jaleo (Tinnuneulus) sparverius, and the
two common species of Accipiter are known, the smaller as the sharp-shinned hawk
(A. fuscus), from the slender tarsi, and the larger as Cooper’s hawk A. cooperi, or
sometimes as the chicken-hawk. They are common, active, graceful birds, preying
almost entirely on birds and small mammals, which they rarely lie in wait for and

HAWKS. 307

seize as they pass, more commonly — especially in the case of small birds — chasing
and seizing them while on the wing, and then retiring to some neighboring dead tree,
or more secluded spot, to dispose of their game.

They nest in tall trees and lay from three to six eggs, those of Cooper’s hawk
being usually bluish-white and unspotted; those of the sharp-shinned nearly white,
heavily blotched and spotted with dark brown.

FiG. 144. — Accipiter nisus, sparrow-hawk.

As already remarked, the species of this genus are quite numerous and found in
almost every part of the world. Their habits seem to be essentially the same every-
where, and while the tints of their plumage are seldom striking and never brilliant,
black, white, slaty blues and red-browns being the commonest,— yet the pattern of
coloration always gives a pleasing éffect. In size there is no great variation, Cooper's
hawk, with a length of less than eighteen inches, being among the largest, while the
smallest is probably A. tinus of South America, large specimens of which do not
exceed a foot in length, while small males measure only about nine inches

308 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Closely related to the Accipiters, but separated from them and from the goshawks
by their shorter toes, tubercled nostrils, and somewhat different condition of the
tarsal envelope, are several species grouped under the genus Micrastur, peculiar to
South America, and similar in general habits to the foregoing; while a small group
restricted to Africa has a typical representative in the singing-hawk or chanting falcon,
Melierax canorus. This bird is nearly as large as a goshawk and with somewhat sim-
ilar habits, being possessed of great courage, and with the power of very rapid flight,
often attacking birds much larger than itself. It is said to feed mainly on birds and
small mammals, and to have a habit of hunting quite late in the evening. The most
peculiar part of its history, however, relates to its voice; for the male seems to have
a true song, which, according to Le Vaillant, consists of decidedly musical notes last-
ing for as much as a minute at a time and repeated at short intervals for hours to-
gether. The song is usually uttered at morning and evening, sometimes however in
the middle of the night, always while the bird is perched, usually on a tree in the
vicinity of its nest; and although at other times a noisy and suspicious bird, the singer
on these occasions is said to become so absorbed in its own music as to be easily
approached and shot.

A similar singing habit has been noticed in Asturinula monogrammica, a much
smaller African hawk, and not generally considered to be closely related to Meélierax,
though Mr. Gurney, in communicating the above notice of its vocal powers to the
London Zoological Society, has called attention to the -precisely similar coloration
of cere, bill, and feet, in the two cases, these parts being vermilion red in both
birds. 7

Though certainly not more courageous than some species among the hawks, and
not better adapted perhaps for the work they do, yet the true falcons, forming the
sub-family Faleonine, are, by almost common consent, given the place of honor among
diurnal birds of prey.

They represent among these the maximum of strength in its most compact and
available form. They are not large birds ; none approach the eagles in size, and some
are among the very smallest of Raptores, —not larger than good sized sparrows; yet
their organization makes them the masters of birds three times as large as themselves,
while, from the very ease with which their wants are supplied,
they remain apparently inactive a large part of the time, and
hence often get the credit of a lazy, or at best fitful, disposition.
There is little of that feverish restlessness about them which is
so characteristic of the hawks, but in its place there is a delib-
erate earnestness and a stubborn perseverance which we cannot
fail to recognize as a higher quality than the fretful snap or
brilliant dash of the slender Accipiter. They are easily recog-
nized by their physiognomy.

The short, strong beak has an acute hook, and the upper

mandible is provided near the end with a strong projecting
FO cilenen “r tooth, which shuts into a corresponding notch at the tip of the

lower mandible. The only approach to such a toothed bill
among other Accipitres is in the genus Milvago among the carrion buzzards, already
noticed, and in a few forms among the kites, where it never assumes the precise charac-
ter seen here. The legs are strong and rather short; the tarsus usually reticulate, —
never really scutellate either before or behind ; the middle toe very long, and the claws

— =

FALCONS. 309

very sharp and much curved; the tail short and of stiff feathers, while the wings are
long and very sharply pointed, almost straight, and very slightly convex.

The number of species varies with different authors from twenty-five to seventy-
five, depending partly on the status allowed the numerous geographical races, and
partly on the personal equation of the author. Probably most systematists would be
content with less than fifty.

Taking the peregrine-faleon, Falco peregrinus, as the type of the genus Falco, and
this genus as the typical one of the group, the principal outliers are the genera Baza,
Harpagus, Hierax, and Hieracidea.

There seems to be a tendency all through the diurnal Accipitres to a lengthening
of the feathers of the back of the head, and nearly every group contains some species
in which this is more positively expressed in a crest. Even the goshawk, Astur
palumbarius, shows such a tendency, especially when young; and now in the highest
group, the Falecninw, we find several species gathered into the genus Baza, which
are conspicuous, in addition to their striking colors and double-toothed bill, for a long
and beautiful crest. As an example of this beautiful genus, we may take the crested
falcon, Baza lophotes, a native of India and Ceylon. The general color above, includ-
ing the crest and tail, is glossy, greenish black; the wings partake also of this color,
but are much variegated with white and chestnut; the upper neck and throat are
deep black, while the lower neck, breast, and abdomen are creamy white, with broad
crossbars of rich chestnut. With this genus are often associated the very similar
kite-faleons, Avicida, of Africa.

The South American notched-faleon, Harpagus bidentatus, probably also belongs
here. It is a crestless form, with double-notched bill (more strongly so than Baza),
and inhabits the wooded regions of tropical South America. The colors of the adult
are slaty blue above, rich chestnut below; the throat white, with a broad median line
of dull black.

The tiny finch-falcons, Zierax, of the East Indies are, from their small size, among
the most marvellous of the falcons. Though only five and one half to six and one
half inches in length, they have all the spirit of the larger falcons, and feed largely if
not entirely on birds and small mammals. One of the commonest, the Bengal falcon,
Hierax cerulescens, bluish black above and rusty white below, has been seen ata
single foray to strike ten or a dozen quail before alighting. Two or three species
from the East Indies are described, and another from the Philippine Islands, but they
are probably not all tenable.

The sparrow-hawk or quail-hawk of New Zealand, //ieracidea nove-zealandia, is
a larger species, which, according to Professor Newton, may represent the more
generalized and ancestral type from which both kestrels and falcons have descended.
Spiziapterye circumcinctus, of the Argentine Republic, is another genuine falcon of
small size.

We now come to the genus Falco, with the peregrine or duck hawk, Jaleo pere-
grinus, as its type. Not less than a dozen different races of this bird have been
recognized, and most of them described as species, but recent writers incline to the
belief that there is but one valid species, which is almost cosmopolitan, Says Pro-
fessor Newton of this species : —

“From Port Kennedy, the most northern part of the American continent, to
Tasmania, and from the shores of the Sea of Ochotsk to Mendoza in the Argentine
Republic, there is scarcely a country in which this falcon has not been found. Speci-

310 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

mens have been received from the Cape of Good Hope, and it is only a question of
the technical differentiation of species whether it does not extend to Cape Horn.
Fearless as it is, and adapting itself to almost every circumstance, it will form its eyry
equally on the sea-washed cliffs, the craggy mountains, or (though more rarely) the
drier spots of a marsh in the northern hemisphere, as on trees (says Schlegel) in the
forests of Java, or the waterless ravines of Australia.”

Fic. 146. — Falco peregrinus, peregrine falcon,

The American race differs slightly if at all in habits from the better known Euro-
pean bird. It flies with great swiftness and without sailing, but when on the lookout
for prey rises easily in a spiral to a considerable height, whence it generally launches
itself like an arrow directly at its victim, which is usually killed almost instantly by
the clutch of the talons, and carried off to be eaten at leisure. When intent on its
quarry it becomes oblivious to everything else, and its natural boldness is at all times
surprising. It not unfrequently makes its appearance at the report of a gun, and
carries off a wounded bird before the astonished sportsman can recover himself. In

FALCONS. 311

America it almost invariably nests on ledges of rocks in precipitous places, rarely
making much of a nest, and sometimes laying its handsome eggs on the bare rock, or
in a slight hollow scratched in the débris of the ledge. These are three or four in
number, usually so heavily blotched with chocolate and red-brown as to entirely
obseure the ground color, which, when visible, is creamy white.

Although ordinarily nesting as above, it has been known exceptionally to breed in
trees, Mr. N. S. Goss having given an account of his observations on several pairs
which he found nesting in the timber along the banks of the Neosho River in Kansas.
In one ease, three eggs were found in a large sycamore, about fifty feet from the
ground, “laid on the fine, soft, rotten wood in a trough-like cavity formed by the
breaking off of a hollow limb near the body of the tree.” Another pair was found
nesting in a knot-hole in a cottonwood, and still another in a hollow limb of a giant
sycamore.

The general colors of the adult bird are dark bluish ash above, almost black on
the head, lighter on the tail. Below, creamy white, barred, except on chin and
throat, with black, while a large black patch extends from the bill backward beneath
the eye, and downward under the bill. The young are more brownish above, and are
streaked longitudinally instead of barred below, said to be a characteristic of all the
larger and typical faleons before the first real moult. Another point which some
systematists make much of, and which was recognized centuries ago by falconers, is
the fact that in all true falcons, the iris is brown, and usually quite dark. This
is probably true of all members of the genus /a/co, including all the sub-genera
except Zinnunculus, in which group some species haye yellow irides. But these
yellow-eyed birds differ much from their relatives, and seem to have lost most of the
spirit of the true falcons.

The largest and finest of all the falcons are the gyrfalcons, confined to the colder
portions of the northern hemisphere. Just how many species there are is still
unsettled; some naturalists recognize four distinct but nearly related species ; others
believe in only a single cireumpolar species, in which they consider it difficult if not
impossible to distinguish geographical races. The four forms, be they species or
races, are certainly very much alike in all but color of plumage, and this is extremely
variable even in individuals belonging to the same ‘race.’

These forms are thus treated by Professor Newton: “Next to the typical Falcons
comes a group known as the ‘great northern’ faleons (JZierofalco). Of these the
most remarkable is the gyrfaleon, 7”. gyrfalco, whose home is in the Scandinavian
mountains, though the young are yearly visttants to the plains of Holland and Ger-
many. In plumage it very much resembles 7”. peregrinus, but its flanks have generally
a bluer tinge, and its superiority in size is at once manifest. Nearly allied to it is the
Icelander, 7’. islandus, which externally differs in its paler coloring, and in almost
entirely wanting the black mandibular patch. Its proportions, however, differ a good
deal, its body being elongated. Its country is shown by its name, but it also inhabits
South Greenland, and not unfrequently makes its way to the British Islands. Very
close to this comes the Greenland falcon, 7. candicans, a native of North Greenland,
and perhaps of other countries within the Arctic circle. Like the last, the Greenland
faleon from time to time occurs in the United Kingdom, but it is always to be distin-
guished by wearing a plumage in which at every age the prevailing color is pure white.
In northeastern America these birds are replaced by a kindred form, 7. labradorus,
first detected by Audubon, and lately recognized by Mr. Dresser. It is at once dis-

312 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

tinguished by its very dark coloring, the lower parts being occasionally almost as
deeply tinted at all ages as the upper.”

The habits of all these forms are, so far as known, essentially the same. They are
birds of the Arctic regions, and even in winter do not wander far southward. Hol-
béll states that in Greenland they prey mostly on waterfowl and ptarmigans, nest in
inaccessible cliffs in January (!), and lay eggs similar in color to the ptarmigans, but
twice as large. MacFarlane, however, who found many gyrfalcons nesting in the

5
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Tr IO tne se cen

7

AUR
iy

Wy,

FiG. 147. — Falco lanarius, lanner.

neighborhood of Anderson River, says that, out of eighteen nests found, all were in
trees except two, one of which was built on a ledge of rocks and the other on the
ground on the side of a steep hill. The earliest nest found with eggs was on May
10; but at that time the ground was still covered with snow, and the weather was
very cold. The eggs are described as varying much in general color and marking,
but are usually of a reddish or yellowish brown, due to the fine and even spotting of
these tints on a lighter ground. Heavy spots and blotches are unusual in these eggs.

FALCONS. 313

These northern falcons or gyrfaleons are said to be the only ones which resemble
the peregrine in being streaked below while young, and cross-banded when adult.

Another falcon, which much resembles the young of the peregrine, but which is
streaked below at all ages, is the lanner, 7. lanarius, of southern Europe, north
Africa, and southwestern Asia. Several well-marked races of this form are found in
other countries, for instance the lugger, 7”. jugger, of India, and the prairie-falcon, 7’.
mexicanus, of Mexico and the southwestern territories of the United States.

Fig, 148. — Falco lithofalco, merlin.

A better-known American bird is the so-called pigeon-hawk, Falco columbarius,
which occurs throughout the whole of the United States. Though a much smaller
bird than the duck-hawk, it is equally bold and fearless, and frequently kills birds
heavier than itself. It is very closely allied to, if not identical with, the European
merlin, 7. lithofaleo; and these two forms, with the Indian 7”. chiquera, and its
African race, ruficollis, and a few others, are not unfrequently separated from Z’alco, as
a sub-genus salon, the merlins.

314 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Very close to these are several beautiful species which are similarly grouped to-
gether under the sub-generic title ZZypotriorchis, and of which the English hobby,
F. subbuteo, is the smallest member. This is an elegantly shaped bird of inconspicuous
colors, not distantly resembling a boldly marked, immature peregrine, readily recog-
nized by its (for a faleon) extremely long wings. It has a wide distribution in the old
world, being found almost everywhere in Europe, Asia, and Africa. While it fre-

Fia. 149. — Falco subbuteo, hobby.

quently captures birds of considerable size, and has even a superabundance of courage
and wing-power, a favorite food while in England is large insects, especially beetles
and dragon-flies, which it catches on the wing, often hunting the beetles in the even-
ing until it is quite dark.

It is unquestionably one of the swiftest of the falcons, delighting to chase and
capture swallows, and frequently striking at and annoying large birds, such as herons
and cranes, which it evidently has no thought of attempting to kill. According to

FALCONS. 815

Lord Lilford this species is never seen hovering in the manner of the kestrel, but in
summer time it sometimes soars to an immense height and ‘lies upon its wings’ in
bright sunny weathér for hours together. The following instance of its sagacity is
given in Dresser’s “ Birds of Europe,” on the authority of Mr. C. E. Diezel: “In the
seegwald stood a large beech tree, on which was a very large old nest, which although
the old birds were regularly shot for eight years, either when the nest contained eggs
or when feeding their young, was still tenanted again. One year, when, as the birds
were so shy, they could not be approached within gunshot, the forester and a com-
panion took turns about to watch the nest, which then contained young, in order to
shoot the parent birds as they came with food. The old birds never came within
shot, and still the young were not starved. After a time, however, the watchers dis-
covered that the old birds took food and, hovering far out of gunshot above the nest,
dropped it down into the latter, thus feeding the young without danger to themselves.
That this really was the case was proved by keeping a careful and continuous watch;
and, moreover, food was found under the tree, which had, in falling, missed its mark.”

While we would much rather believe than disbelieve, yet there are some elements
of improbability about the preceding narrative, and we would suggest that unless the
birds were actually seen to feed the young in this way, it would seem less improbable
that a bird of well-known crepuscular habits should have chosen the night as a safe
time for conveying food to the nest.

Another, but much less common bird, of this group is the beautiful Eleanora falcon,
Falco (Erythropus) eeanore, of the Mediterranean region. The adult in full
plumage is very deep blackish brown, sometimes sooty black, with black bill and
claws, and bright yellow orbits and feet. Its food, like that of the hobby, consists
largely of insects, and it is described as eminently crepuscular in its habits. Certain
small islands off the south shore of Sardinia are favorite resorts of this rare spe-
cies, and on some of them hundreds of pairs breed in caves and fissures of the cliffs.

Yet another and the largest species of this group is the femoral or plumbeous
falcon, #. femoralis, of South America and Mexico, of whose habits, however, little
seems to have been recorded.

The common sparrow-hawk, /alco ( Tinnunculus) sparverius, of the United States,
is too well known to need description. Its nesting habits are singular, as it generally
lays its five or six eggs in a deserted woodpecker’s hole, or even in a martin-box or
dove-cote. This may be taken as the type of a group of beautiful little faleons which
have often—perhaps usually —been separated from /’a/co under the sub-generic
name Zinnunculus, including the European kestrel, 7. alaudarius, and perhaps a half
dozen other species. In their relations to man they are probably the most harmless
falcons in existence, feeding mainly on mice and insects, though occasionally taking a
small bird; and they are so graceful in their motions, so tidy and pretty in their
whole appearance, that it is to be regretted they are not more abundant every-
where. The kestrel is indeed the most abundant of all British birds of prey, and its
hovering form, as it poises in mid-air on the watch for its prey, is familiar to every
schoolboy in that country.

Fifteen or twenty other names have been highly recommended for specific dis-
tinction, but it is impossible at present to say just how the honors should be divided.
It seems doubtful whether America has more than one species, sparverius, with its
various races. Africa claims at least three, of which one, alopea, is remarkable for its
uniform yellowish-red color, with longitudinal dark streaks and black wings.

316 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Madagascar furnishes another peculiar form, and others still are found in the Malay
Archipelago and Australia.

Few allusions have purposely been made thus far to the uses of birds of prey in
the chase, it being our intention to defer this until most of the species thus used
should have been mentioned in their regular places. It is therefore fitting, here, in
connection with the group of birds which has given its name to the sport, to deyote a
few pages to the consideration of that most time-honored of all field sports, hawking
or falconry. This, in its broadest sense may be defined as the use of hawks or falcons
in the capture of other animals. In strictness, we ought, perhaps, to limit the term to
the actual taking of game with hawks or falcons, this being the sense in which it is
commonly understood.

Yet trained hawks are still used merely to hover over game and prevent its flying
until it can be netted or killed; and eagles or large falcons were formerly much used
in parts of Asia and Africa to annoy and hinder gazelles and deer, by flying in their
faces, and striking at nose, eyes, or back, thus retarding their flight, and giving time
for the hunters and dogs to come up. In one form or another faleonry has undoubt-
edly an antiquity as great as that of the Egyptian mummies, as it is known to have
been practiced among the Egyptians centuries before the Christian Era, and certainly
flourished in China earlier than 600 8. c., probably existing there over a thousand
years earlier still. In Europe, also, it was a favorite pastime before the Christian Era,
but it was not introduced into England until about the middle of the ninth century,
and for the next eight hundred years was by far the most popular sport practised in
both England and France.

Monarchs kept their hawks by hundreds, knights and ladies paid fabulous sums
for the best trained birds, and even peasants took to rearing sparrow-hawks and
kestrels, and spent their holidays in hunting sparrows and larks. Men gave their
lives to the study and training of faleons, and in many families generation succeeded
generation in the practice of this art, father handing down to son his store of experi-
ence, and with it often his well-earned place of honor at the castle or the court. At
one time we are told, “In the court of the King of Wales there were only three
officers of his household above the master of the hawks. This person occupied the
fourth place from the sovereign at the royal table, but he was prohibited from drink-
ing more than three times, lest he should become intoxicated, and, in consequence,
neglect his birds. Not only had he the management of the hawks and of the people
employed in this sport, but, when he had been very successful in it, the king was
accustomed to rise up and receive him on his entrance; and even, on some occasions,
to hold his stirrup. Ethelston made North Wales provide him not only with so many
dogs as he chose, ‘ whose scent-pursuing noses might explore the haunts and coverts
of the deer, but ‘birds who knew how to hunt others along the sky.” In France
there was an officer called the ‘Grand Falconer, who was a person of so much impor-
tance that his salary was four thousand florins, and he was attended by fifty gentle-
men and fifty assistant falconers. He was allowed to keep three hundred hawks; he
licensed every vender of hawks in the kingdom, and received a fee on every one of
these birds that was sold. The king never rode out on any occasion of consequence
without being attended by this officer.”

Soon laws became necessary for the regulation and protection of the sport. In
the reign of Henry VII. the taking of the eggs of hawk or falcon was punishable with
imprisonment for ‘a year and a day,’ and a fine at the king’s pleasure; and this, too,

FALCONRY. 317

even if the eggs were on the offender’s own land. The use of the gyrfaleon was
restricted to king or queen; an earl might own and fly the peregrine; a yeoman the
goshawk; a priest was allowed the sparrow-hawk, while a servant might get what
amusement he could from the kestrel.

During the sixteenth or seventeenth century falconry reached the zenith of its
popularity in Europe, and before the beginning of the present century it had fallen
into pretty general disuse. It is still kept up, however, on many a large estate in
England and on the Continent, and in many cities of India and China at the present
time, one frequently meets in the streets men carrying hawks on their wrists as their
ancestors did a thousand years ago. In fact there are very few countries of the Old
World where it is not still more or less in vogue, as well as in some parts of South
America, though we are not aware that it has been practised in the United States.

The terminology of falconry is quite voluminous, hundreds of terms being used
which are peculiar to the art, while many familiar words are used only in a peculiar
or limited sense, so that a work on the subject would be hardly intelligible to the
average reader without a glossary. We need not here trouble ourselves about many
of these terms, introducing as few as possible, and explaining those which seem to
need it.

There is little doubt, considering the high grade of intelligence of most birds of
prey, that any of the forms which commonly catch living birds or quadrupeds might,
with proper care and training, be made serviceable for hawking; but those which the
experience of ages seems to have shown conclusively to be the best are the true
Falconine (especially the members of the genus Yalco) and the Accipitrine. These
are very different in their structure and action, as already pointed out, and are there-
fore most often used on different classes of game. By the term game we must here
be understood to mean the quarry, whatever it may be, whether eatable or not; for,
as the main thing sought for in this pastime is sport, it is often better and more con-
veniently obtained from large and high-flying birds like herons, than from such birds
as quails and partridges, which are more easily procured for the table in other
ways.

In all ages and countries falconers have recognized these two classes of ‘hawks ;’
the long-winged, dark-eyed falcons, which rise to a considerable height and ‘stoop’ on
their prey at a single rush, being usually called ‘noble,’ while the short-winged, often
yellow-eyed hawks, which fly low and chase after their prey, were styled ‘ignoble.’
The first, or ‘noble’ falcons, were most often taught to rise high above the hunter, and
‘wait on’ until game was found, while the second were oftener thrown from the hand
on sighting game, and, unlike the falcons, were not often ‘hooded.’ The really good
birds most readily obtained and easily managed were, in Europe, the goshawk and
the peregrine, and these are the ones most often used now in England. The ‘great
northern’ falcons, the various gyrfalcons, were more powerful, and could be used for
some birds which the peregrine was no match for, but they were scarce and hard to
obtain in the first place, did not thrive except in a cold climate, and were extremely
difficult to tame and train. The different species of falcon vary much in their dispo-
sitions, and there are many other things to be taken into account in selecting a bird
for service. The course of training is at best long and difficult, and while a week or
two may suffice in some cases for young birds reared from the nest, others will require
several months.

At the present time it is believed that as good results in the field may be obtained,

318 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

eventually, from young birds reared by the falconer (and then termed ‘eyases’), as
with full-grown, wild-caught birds, known as ‘ haggards ;’ but old-time falconers held
the latter in much the higher estimation. The wild-caught birds are often much
stronger, and hence better for large game, while their chief value lies in the fact that
they have always been accustomed to hunt for themselves, and have thus acquired
habits of watchfulness and daring which are difficult to cultivate in ‘eyases.’ They
are, however, extremely hard to train at first, and very likely to forget their teaching
and regain their liberty the first time they are ‘ flown’ by the falconer.

In training a falcon, as in training a horse or a dog, one person should take entire
charge of the bird, at least until well broken. The method ordinarily adopted is,
briefly, as follows :—

At first the efforts should be principally toward rendering the bird quiet and tame
in confinement. To this end she should be handled as much as possible, and stroked
with a feather, using the voice frequently, and especially at feeding times. With a
wild-caught falcon this will be slow work at first ; the bird may refuse to eat for a day
or two, and for some time her training will have to be conducted in almost total dark-
ness. <A leather ‘hood’ is placed over the head, and the bird must become accus-
tomed to having this put on and taken off at all times, even while feeding, as well as
to feeding with or without it, at first in the dark, and finally in broad daylight
and in the presence of other persons. Then, step by step, she must grow accustomed
to all sorts of noise and confusion, as well as learn to know the voice of her master,
and come at his call. All this time a ‘jess’ (strap) will be kept on each leg, and when
carried about she will perch on the glove or wristlet of her keeper. If more liberty
be desired, a line may be fastened to the ‘ jesses,’ and its length increased as desired.
Up to this time she has only received food from the hand; now she must be made to
go to it, and this is easily managed by letting her see it at a distance of a few feet,
but refusing to give it her until she jumps or flies toward it. After she will thus go
twenty or thirty y yards without fail, the line may be taken off and the bird be taught to
fly to her food from a much greater distance,— even half a mile at last. If the food
so far used can be flesh of the game she is to be trained for, so much the better; and
after she has caught a few pigeons, or other birds released from the hand, under fayor-
able circumstances, she may be tried on wild game. It is important, however, that
all her first trials shall be successful, and it is also well that, when first allowed to
strike a bird at liberty, that bird shall be too large for her to carry off conveniently.
After a little practice it will be found that the moment a falcon is unhooded in the
open air and set free, she will immediately rise to a considerable height, and circle
about, on the lookout for her accustomed food. This is called ‘ waiting on,’ and if she
has not been released until the dog has pointed, the game may now be flushed, and the
falcon will be pretty certain to make a successful stoop and kill her bird, in which
case she must be at once hooded, and either allowed to eat a little of the game killed,
or else some other food must be substituted.

Should she fail to kill her game at the first plunge, and the bird take to is grass
again, it must be flushed as quickly as possible, and a good falcon will ‘wait on’ again
until offered another chance to strike. Young hawks, when taken from the nest before
they can fly, must be suitably housed and fed antil full grown, and no training except
simple taming is at first attempted.

Usually they are left at liberty during the day, being accustomed to come at the
call, or at regular feeding-times, and they must have food enough to prevent their

FALCONRY. 319

wandering off in search of it. As soon as they begin to chase other birds it is time
their taming was begun, and they must now be caught and hooded, and taught in
nearly the same manner as older birds; but this is much easier and more quickly accom-
plished. In order to make good hunters they must always be kept in good condition,
fed just enough to keep them up to full strength, yet always with good appetites when
brought to the field. Their food, also, when not hunting, should consist as largely as
possible of game, and they must be allowed to eat naturally, swallowing bones, hair,
and feathers, and ejecting from the mouth the ‘castings’ a few hours afterwards, in
the same manner as wild hawks. In general, the more exercise they get the better.

As most falcons become much attached to particular breeding-places, it is easy for
those who are conveniently situated to obtain the young in successive years from the
same eyries.

Hawks were also always to be bought at reasonable prices before the beginning of
the ‘hawking season,’ and thus in many cases owners were accustomed to set their
birds at liberty at the close of the season, replacing them the next year with new ones,
and thus avoiding the care of them through the greater part of the year. But gyrfal-
cons were too expensive to be thus released, and as they also retained their powers
longer than others, and could be used for many years in succession, they were carefully
kept for indefinite periods, occasionally doing good service for even fifteen or twenty
years.

The taking of wild hawks, usually known as passage-hawks, from their abundance
during the vernal and autumnal migrations, was usually effected by means of a net
baited with a live bird, though frequently a decoy-falcon was used, being made to
flutter as if killing game whenever a passage-hawk was seen in the distance. An
owl was often the surest attraction for a hawk, the antipathy existing between the two
seeming always to render it impossible for a hawk to pass over by daylight without
one or two dashes at his nocturnal rival.

In training hawks the falconer had always to bear in mind not only the kinds of game
which the bird was best fitted to take, but also the kinds which could conveniently
be hunted in his immediate neighborhood. For the same individual was rarely trained,
especially at first, for more than a single class of game: one for grouse, partridges,
and, perhaps, pheasants; another for hares or rabbits; and others, still, for herons and
waterfowl. Thus, to insure a good day’s sport in the field, it was often necessary to be
provided with a dozen or more of hawks, from which to select according to the game
which presented itself. In its native state a hungry falcon would attack almost any
bird which presented itself, and such, when captured and trained, would necessarily
have to be flown with care at difficult game, and it was not uncommon, though of
course very annoying, to have a falcon forsake the pursuit of a fine heron which was
mounting skyward, and dart off after some luckless magpie or crow which chanced to
cross his path. And this was the more vexatious because one of these ‘small fry’
would frequently evade the falcon by diving into thick shrubbery, whence the ‘noble’
hawk, baffled and angry himself, was not easily recalled by his master.

The heron was always a favorite with falconers on account of the good exhibition
which the flight afforded. The best place for this kind of sport was on open, treeless
ground, over which the herons were accustomed to fly at a considerable height in
passing between their feeding-grounds and their nests or roosting-places. When
attacked by a falcon under such cireumstances, the heron seeks safety by rising high
in the air, and so long as she can keep above her pursuer she has nothing to fear.

320 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Both birds ascend in spirals; but the heron, with her light body and broad, concave
wings, can rise in smaller rings than the falcon. The latter therefore describes a much
wider circle, and, traveling with tremendous speed, and using her powerful wings at
every turn, gains rapidly upon her quarry. Thus the struggle is steadily carrying both
birds higher and higher, while the spectators, in order to keep the race in sight and be
‘in at the death,’ must gallop ‘down-wind’ across country, until they see that the fal-
con has at last ‘ got the sky’ of her victim, and is about to ‘stoop.’ All eyes watch
eagerly now, and the height is often so great that the two birds seem hardly larger
than a couple of unequal-sized bees. For an instant the upper one seems to hang sus-
pended and motionless, then shoots with incredible swiftness and unerring aim on the
doomed heron. The blow may be evaded at first, but this is rarely possible more than
a few times, for the long struggle for position has left little strength for any new
effort, and so the falcon strikes fair on her back, either killing instantly by the mere
shock of collision, as is usually the case with a smaller bird, or more slowly, but with
equal certainty, by the driving home of the long curved talons, while both birds come
whirling toward the earth, the falcon above, and striving with outspread wings to
break the force of the fall. The faleconer now runs forward and slips the hood
over the falcon’s head, after which she is fed, usually with game freshly killed
for the purpose, which she is often allowed to eat while perched on the body of the
heron.

Such a chase, while occupying but a few moments, is full of the most intense
interest, and we can hardly wonder at the zeal with which such sport has been fol-
lowed in days past. There is much difference in falcons, even of the same species, 4s
to their power of killing, some being very strong ‘footers,’ while others, with equal
power of wing, are unable to strike surely with the feet, and hence there may be a
rough-and-tumble fight on the ground, in which the long bill of the heron is an ugly
and effective weapon. The goshawk especially is slow in killing a large bird, and
hence should never be flown at herons.

The full speed of the peregrine has been estimated at not less than one hundred and
fifty miles an hour, and the gyrfalcon is believed to much exceed this. Even the gos-
hawk, a much slower bird, easily overtakes the passenger pigeon in full flight, so that
it is doubtless no uncommon thing for a falcon to take a dash of ten or a dozen miles
in as many minutes, in the pursuit of a single victim,

The European woodcock is another bird which rises to a great height to escape the
faleon, and, unequal as the race would seem to be, the woodcock is by no means
always the loser, and not unfrequently both birds rise completely out of sight before
the finish, Game which will thus ‘take the air’ in order to escape affords much
better sport than any other kind, for the hawking of rabbits, or even hares, is tame
sport, only visible to few, and often with much exertion in riding over rough ground
and through thick woods; and while ducks and other waterfowl are often hunted with
fair success by the peregrine, or even the goshawk, yet it can only be done under
favorable conditions, as these birds usually escape by diving, if there be water enough
at hand.

Probably the most difficult game ever successfully attempted was the kite, to the cap-
ture of which very few even of the strongest and best-trained faleons were equal; so
that practically this sport was limited to the favored few who could afford to possess
the swiftest birds. Thus, hunted mainly by royalty, the kite beeame known as royal
game, and doubtless J/ilvus regalis gets its specific designation from this source.

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EUROPEAN HERONS.

1. Nycticorax nycticoraz, night-heron: 2. Ardea ciner¢ a,common heron; 3%. Ardetta minuta,
little bittern ; Herodias alba, egret.

OWLS. 321
Newton quotes an incident of this sport which occurred in the reign of the “ British-
Solomon,” King James, according to which it seems that the French king’s faleoner,
when sent to England to show his skill, “could not kill one kite, ours being more
magnanimous than the French kite.’ Whereupon James’s master-falconer, Sir Thomas
Monson, at an expense of a thousand pounds, obtained a cast (couple) of hawks that
took nine kites in succession. But the historian goes on to say that when King
James himself was persuaded by this success to witness a flight in person, “the Kite
went to such a mountee as all the field lost sight of Kite and Hawke and all, and
neither Kite nor Hawke were either seen or heard of to this present.”

Owls, generally speaking (the family Srricm.2), are the nocturnal Accipitres.
With all the raptorial nature of the diurnal birds of prey, they are yet very different
in many details of structure, a few of which have already been mentioned. The head
is relatively large and broad, and the eyes especially are very large,— larger than in
any other family of birds except possibly the goatsuckers, or nightjars (Caprimulgi-
dx). The feathers surrounding each eye are generally of peculiar shape and texture,
often more or less bristly, and tend to form a more or less shallow funnel, or hollow
cone, at the bottom or apex of which the eye is situated. The eyes look almost
directly forward, and thus, with their setting of radiating feathers — the facial dises —
have a gogele-like appearance, which, though often unintentionally and grossly carica-
tured, is yet striking and often ludicrous. These circles of feathers about the eyes
are evidently adaptations to the nocturnal habits of the birds, and are best developed
in those species which are most strictly nocturnal, while in the few species which hunt
much by daylight they are quite incomplete.

The eyes themselves are not less remarkable. In addition to their great size, they
are of peculiar shape, being less nearly spherical than in other birds, and with the
anterior portion much produced and cylindrical. They are also but very slightly
moyable, the bony plates which are found in the sclerotic coat of the eye in all birds
being here most remarkably developed, and so closely fitted to each other and to the
orbits that there is no perceptible rolling of the eye-ball, as in other birds, the whole
head having to be turned instead. The iris is unusually broad, and capable of a sur-
prising degree of expansion and contraction, while the pupil, instead of being circu-
lar, as in most birds, is, when moderately contracted, a perpendicular oval.

In many species, also, we find eyelashes, a rare thing among birds, though seen in
ostriches and some others. In closing the eyes, moreover, the upper lid is principally
effective, the reverse of what is true in most birds. The nictitating membrane, or
third eyelid, is not, perhaps, better developed than in other Raptores; but the large
size of the eye, and the fact that owls ordinarily sit during the daytime with this
screen drawn over it (in the manner of a sickly chicken), make it unusually noticeable.
There is usually a well-developed superciliary shield.

The ear also is remarkably developed, the. orifice being often of peculiar shape,
frequently closable by a movable flap or operculum, and ordinarily surrounded by one
or more circles of feathers, which probably perform to a great extent the function of
the external fleshy ear among mammals. The openings of these ears are often unlike
on the two sides of the head, in at least one genus (Asio), the orifice on one side
opening downward, and on the other upward. The bill is not remarkable in any
respect, being usually short and frequently almost hidden by the bristly feathers about
it, being, as it were, squeezed in between the discs which surround the eyes. It is
always sharp and strongly hooked, but never notched.

VOL. Iv. — 21

322 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

-~

The nostrils are of moderate or large size, and open in or near the anterior margin
of the cere, being usually hidden by the bristles.

The legs are much longer than they appear to be, yet never very long. They are
always feathered to or below the tibio-tarsal joint, and a really naked tarsus, 7. e. with-
out feathers or bristles, is rarely seen, while even the toes are often well feathered. The
fact that the outer toe is reversible has already been noted, and although the presence
of a similar structure in the osprey (Pandion) is probably to be regarded more as a
coincidence than as evidence of true affinity, yet it is interesting to notice that the
claws are very similar in the two cases. It will be remembered that in the osprey the
talons are rounded, not grooved, beneath, and that they are of equal length on all the
toes; while in most if not all other Falconidz the hind claw is usually largest, nearly
equalled by the inner, and the middle and outer are respectively smaller and smallest.
The owls most nearly resemble the osprey in these respects, for, although the claws
are not smooth and rounded beneath, neither are they furrowed, but ridged; and very
often all are of precisely the same size. Eyen when unequal, the middle claw is usu-
ally largest, being nearly equalled by the inner, while either the hind claw or the outer
may be the smallest, though usually they are about equal.

The wings and tail are generally ample and rounded, the former always more or
less concave, the latter often, but not always, short. The plumage is very soft, loose,
and fluffy, giving a very false impression of size. Almost all the feathers are soft-
fringed, and this is noticeable in the large flight feathers, especially on the outer webs
of the primaries, where the fringe is stiffer than elsewhere, and the filaments more or
less recurved, all combining to make the flight noiseless as possible. All the feathers
are destitute of aftershafts, and the oil-gland lacks the usual circlet of plumes. A
great many species show tufts of lengthened feathers on the head, one over each eye,
usually called ‘horns’ or ‘ ears’ though a better word is that suggested by Dr. Coues,
who calls them plumicorns or feather-horns. It is almost needless to say that they
have nothing whatever to do with the ears, and, as they are not peculiar to either sex,
they probably serve no purpose as ornaments. They may be depressed or erected at
the pleasure of the bird, but in many species are so large as always to be quite con-
spicuous. They increase the somewhat striking resemblance which the face of an owl
bears to that of a cat, but what useful purpose they serve, if any, is apparently un-
known. They occur in widely different genera, and differ much in size and form, but
seem to be of little value, except in artificial classifications, representing perhaps the occi-
pital crests so frequently met with among Falconide, but entirely wanting among owls.

We have spoken of owls as the nocturnal birds of prey, and so most of them are;
yet there is much difference among them as to the power of sight in the night-time,
and the corresponding partial blindness by daylight. Not a few of them are entirely
helpless in open sun-light, and if discovered under such circumstances may be easily
caught in the hand. Others see perfectly well in the light, and even prefer to hunt by
day in cloudy or foggy weather.

This is especially true of such species as the snowy-ow]l and hawk-owl, which inhabit
the far north, where the summer is one long day, or at best there are but one or two
hours of twilight in the course of the twenty-four. Probably the great majority of
species prefer the twilight of morning and evening, or the semi-darkness of more or
less moonlight nights. The structure of their eyes renders them very near sighted, and
it seems very probable that many of them are able to hear a mouse much farther than
they could see him, though there is a wide difference in this respect in different species.

OWLS. 323

Most owls are arboreal in their habits, but with quite a fondness for rocks and
bushy cliffs, while very few are really terrestrial. In those which are most so, how-
ever, the claws are liable to be less curved.

The food is quite variable, but owls destroy immense numbers of rats, mice, and
other ‘vermin,’ and are thus of incalculable service to man. Their habit (in common
with other Accipitres) of ejecting by the mouth the indigestible parts of their food,
renders the absolute determination of the character of their food comparatively easy.
This subject has been very thoroughly investigated of late years in Europe, and the
results show conclusively that while owls may occasionally do more or less damage in
the destruction of useful birds, this is more than compensated for by the wholesale
destruction of injurious rodents (especially Muridee and Arvicolide) of which the
bulk of their food consists.

Some forms feed largely on fish, which they catch for themselves, and it has been
frequently noticed that in such species the legs and feet are usually bare; but, as Pro-
fessor Newton remarks, we must not be too hasty in drawing conclusions from these
facts, for the tarsi are also bare in some species which are not known to catch fish at
all, and, we may add, many species which sometimes fish for themselves haye both
tarsus and toes well feathered. Indeed, the snowy-owl, with its feet so muffled in
feathers as even to hide the claws, was seen by Audubon catching fish very skilfully
from the ‘ pot-holes,’ at the falls of the Ohio at Louisville.

Most owls follow the rule which obtains among other Accipitres as to relative size
of the sexes, the female being usually the larger, but there are some exceptions. The
sexes, however, are invariably alike in coloring, and the young do not seem to pass
through any well-marked ‘stages’ of plumage after they once put off the down.

Melanism and albinism are both rare in this family, but in a large number of species
belonging to several widely different genera, two phases of plumage occur indepen-
dently of age or sex; one the ‘ gray’ plumage and the other the ‘red,’ the prevailing
color in the former being brownish gray, and in the latter rusty red. These phases
were for a long time a puzzle to naturalists, it being at first supposed that the two
colors marked different species; later, that they indicated either different sexes or ages ;
while it is now pretty generally conceded that both colors may be found in young
from the same nest, offspring of the same parents, whether these be both red or both
gray, or one of each. Moreover, it would seem probable that either phase once
assumed is worn through life. Species in which both phases occur are often called
dimorphie or dichromatic. Further reference to this subject may be found in the
introduction to this volume (page 8).

The nesting habits vary much, but the eggs are normally always white, either pure,
or yellow- or blue-tinted, and almost spherical. They are commonly more numerous
than in other Accipitres, being usually four to six; but in several cases as many as
eight or ten are laid; while in at least one species, and probably in more, the normal
number appears to be two.

From the nocturnal preferences of most owls their habits are very slightly known,
and many interesting facts are doubtless to be discovered in this direction. More
often heard than seen, even their notes are only imperfectly known as yet, but are
ordinarily monotonous and mournful, occasionally pleasing and almost musical, while
the voices of some species appear never to have been heard. As to the manner of
flight and method of hunting in nocturnal forms we know very little, and our infer-
ences from structure must be of the most general kind.

$24 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

~

The question of the division of the owls into sub-families is one which has long
perplexed ornithologists. The group has seemed so homogeneous that good charac-
ters on which to found subdivisions were hard to find, and even now it would be pre-
mature to say that any unquestionable arrangement has been effected. Over forty
years ago Nitsch showed that the feathering (pterylography) of the barn-owl or
screech-owl, Aluco flammeus, was very different from that of all other members of
the family, and some peculiar osteological characters were also found to exist in the
same bird. On these discoveries as a basis, two sub-families were formed, and a few
years ago there was a general feeling among systematists that at last the question was
nearly settled, and they might safely place the barn-owls and their allies —less than
half a dozen species in all—in one group; and all the remaining hundred species or
more in asecond. One species, however, Phodilus badius, which had been placed in
the smaller group, has now been found by Alphonse Milne-Edwards to combine the
peculiarities of both groups, and thus to be a true connecting-link between them.

It seems impossible to include Phodilus in either group, yet systematists are re-
luctant to allow it to stand by itself as the type of a new sub-family, and equally
reluctant to unite all owls into a single group, only subdividing them into genera and
species. Under these circumstances, and especially while new species are still being
discovered, most ornithologists are inclined to wait for a time, and not commit them-
selyes. The two main groups alluded.to may be thus characterized : —

Sub-family Aluconine. Barn-owls and their allies. Sternum without manubrium
and entire (7%. e., un-notched) behind; clavicles united together, forming a furcula, and
solidly joined to the keel of the sternum; tarsus without a bony ring or arch over the
extensor tendon of the toes; claw of the middle toe with its inner margin serrate.

Sub-family Strigine. Other owls (except Phodilus). Sternum with a distinct
manubrium, and with two or more clefts or notches in the hinder margin; clayicles
never united to the keel of the sternum, often not even united to each other; tarsus
with a bony ring or arch over the groove, in which lies the common extensor tendon
of the toes; inner margin of middle claw not serrate.

Phodilus, or Photodilus as it is also written, agrees with the Aluconine in want-
ing the manubrial process of the sternum as well as the bony arch on the tarsus, but

differs from them and agrees with the Strigine in having the hinder
margin of the sternum distinctly notched, while the clayvicles are neither

united to each other, nor to the keel of the sternum.
A The burrowing-owl, Speotyto cunicularia, is one of the most pecu-
“te liar forms which we meet with among the owls, and, although too
Mi speotyto, Bhow. well known to warrant extended description, we can hardly pass it
i ins without calling attention to its long slender legs, imperfect facial
disk, and terrestrial habits. It is about nine and a half inches long, the tail however,
being rather short, —only three to three and a half inches. The colors are brown
and yellowish-white in about equal proportion, the upper parts being brown with very
numerous roundish white spots, while the under parts, wings, and tail are barred with
brown and white. The sexes are alike in size and color. It is peculiar to America,
where it occurs abundantly in some places, especially on the pampas and adjacent lands
of South America, and the plains of the western United States. On the west coast
of North America it extends northward to the Columbia River, while on the east coast
a few isolated colonies are found in Florida, and it occurs abundantly in Texas. On
the island of Guadeloupe, in the West Indies, a form is found which has sometimes

OWLS. 325

been ranked as a distinct species, 8. guadeloupensis, but this seems to be only a variety
of the South American bird.

Burrowing-owls are notorious from their association with the prairie-dog and other
mammals in whose deserted burrows they commonly live, though their relations with
the earlier occupants and the intruding rattle-snakes, contrary to popular belief, are
usually anything but peaceful. The mistake has doubtless originated from the
observed fact that in the so-called ‘villages’ of the prairie-dog, owls and snakes as
well as ‘dogs’ are often abundant, and all living in burrows originally made by the
rodents. Yet there is no reason to believe that they ever all live in the same under-
ground chamber, or that either bird or reptile lays aside its usual instincts and abstains
from an occasional meal off each other or the young prairie-dogs. On this subject,
Dr. Coues, in his “ Birds of the Northwest,” remarks : —

“The case is further complicated by the introduction of the rattle-snakes ; and no
little pure bosh is in type respecting the harmonious and confidential relations imag-
ined to subsist between the trio, which, like the ‘happy family’ of Barnum, lead
Utopian existences. According to the dense bathos of such nursery tales, in this
underground elysium the snakes give their rattles to the puppies to play with, the
old dogs cuddle the owlets, and farm out their own litters to the grave and careful
birds; when an owl and a dog come home, paw-in-wing, they are often mistaken by
their respective progeny, the little dogs nosing the owls in search of the maternal
font, and the old dogs left to wonder why the baby owls will not nurse. It is a pity
to spoil a good story for the sake of a few facts, but, as the case stands, it would be
well for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to take it up.

“First, as to the reptiles, it may be observed that they are like other rattle-snakes, —
dangerous, venomous creatures; they have no business in the burrows, and are after
no good when they do enter. They wriggle into the holes, partly because there is no
other place for them to crawl into on the bare, flat plain, and partly in search of owls’
eggs, owlets, and puppies to eat. Next, the owls themselves are simply attracted to
the villages of prairie-dogs as the most convenient places for shelter and nidification,
where they find eligible ready-made burrows, and are spared the trouble of digging
for themselyes. Community of interest makes them gregarious to an extent unusual
among rapacious birds; while the exigencies of life on the plains cast their lot with
the rodents.”

Wherever these owls are found, they make use of holes in the earth for breeding
purposes. Not only do they use the holes above alluded to, but they frequently take
possession of those of foxes, badgers, and ground squirrels; and in South America
they live in the burrows of the viscacha, Lagostomus trichodactylus, the Patagonian
‘hare’ or cavy, Dolichotis patagonicus, or even of armadillos and large lizards. It is
pretty generally believed that when they do not find suitable accommodations of this
kind they dig holes for themselves, and this may indeed be ‘the case, but we are not
aware that anyone has ever seen them so employed. The burrowing-owls of North and
South America, though unquestionably belonging to the same species, are sufficiently
different to constitute two fairly well-marked geographical races, the South American
bird being larger and lighter colored than the other. In habits they must differ still
more widely, for the bird of the western United States is described as almost entirely
diurnal, while the South American bird is as completely crepuscular or nocturnal ;
sitting, it may be, at the mouth of its burrow during the daytime, or on the top of a
bush near at hand, but seldom feeding at all until towards sunset, when it becomes

826 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

very active. On the pampas it is usually very tame, permitting one to walk up quite
close before taking flight for another bush or hillock; but after sunset it becomes
very vigilant, flying up and hovering at a height of thirty or forty feet, and uttering
its screams of protest whenever an intruder appears in sight, thus giving ample warn-
ing to its neighbors, the viscachas.

On the plains of the United States they seem to be more timid and wary, and are
said to feed mostly in the daytime. Their food is usually stated to consist mostly of
reptiles and insects, but they certainly consume large numbers of mice and some small
birds. They neither migrate nor hibernate, but are abroad and active all winter.
According to Mr. Agersborg, in south-eastern Dakota, in winter, as many as twenty of

FiG. 151. — Athene noctua, little owl, civetta.

these birds may be found living together in the same burrow, and in one such ease he
found forty-three mice and several shore-larks “scattered along the run to their com-
mon apartment.”

The nest is simply a collection of grass, feathers, and rubbish placed at the end of
the burrow, and contains from five to ten short elliptical, or nearly spherical, white,
unspotted eggs, The nest, and often the entire burrow, is filthy beyond description,
from the accumulation of remnants of food, the ejected pellets of the birds them-
selves, ete.

The nearest relatives of Speotyto would seem to be the members of the Old World
genus, Athene (Carine), and one or more species from the West Indies, belonging to
the genus Gymnasio. G. lawrenci, found in Cuba, is rather smaller than the burrow-
ing-owl, and with proportionally shorter legs, the tarsi and feet, moreover, being per-

OWLS. 327
fectly bare of feathers or bristles, and covered with small irregular-shaped plates, as in
the tarsal covering of falcons.

The genus Athene, in which the burrowing-owl was formerly placed, as now
framed includes but two species, one of which, the little owl of Europe, Athene noctua,
is the bird which among the Greeks was sacred to Pallas Athene, and is so often
represented with the Goddess of Wisdom on their coins and sculptures; “ but,” says
Newton, “those who know the grotesque actions and ludicrous expression of this
veritable buffoon of birds can never cease to wonder at its having been seriously
selected as the symbol of learning, and can hardly divest themselves of the suspicion
that the choice must have been made in the spirit of sarcasm.” For many of the
following notes on this species we are indebted to the excellent account of it given in
Dresser’s “ Birds of Europe.”

It is from eight to nine inches in length, or a trifle smaller than the common
mottled-owl of the United States. Its color above is brown with white markings, —
stripes on the head, spots on the back, wing-coverts, etc., and bars on the wings and
tail.

Below, it is buffy white, with dark-brown stripes or longitudinal dashes. Through
central and southern Europe it is a common and well-known owl, but rarely reaches
England or Sweden, though found regularly in Denmark.

Its favorite haunts are in the neighborhood of towns, though it is frequently met
with in the country, and in Holland is usually found in the orchards close to farm-
houses. In such places it usually nests in the hollow of a tree, laying from three to
five eggs without any sign of a nest, but ordinarily it prefers deserted buildings,
chureh-towers, ruins, chinks of rocky walls, or the crevices of bushy cliffs. According
to Mr. Keulemans, these little owls have a strong aversion to water. He has kept
them in a cage for more than a year without giving them any, while “it is a curious
fact than when they get wet, either by heavy rain or by being placed in a damp spot,
they have fits and remain insensible for hours, and sometimes it causes their death.”
In Italy it is known as the ‘ civetta,’ and Mr. Charles Waterton says of it: “This
diminutive rover of the night is much prized by the gardeners of Italy for its uncom-
mon ability in destroying insects, snails, slugs, reptiles, and mice. There is scarcely
an out-house in the gardens and vineyards of that country which is not tenanted by
the civetta.

“Tt is often brought up tame from the nest, and in the month of September is sold
for a dollar to sportsmen, who take it with them in their excursions through the
country to look for larks and other small birds. Perched on the top of a pole it
attracts their notice, and draws them within the fatal range of gunshot by its most
singular gestures; for, standing bolt upright, it curtsies incessantly, with its head
somewhat inclined forwards, while it keeps its eyes fixed on the approaching object.
This odd movement is peculiar to the civetta alone; by it the birds of the neighbor-
hood are decoyed to their destruction ; hence its value to the ranging sportsman.

“Often and anon, as the inhabitants of Rome pass through the bird-market at the
Pantheon, they stop and look and laugh at this pretty little captive owl whilst it is
performing its ridiculous gesticulations.” Like many other owls which prefer the dusk
for hunting, it is, nevertheless, often abroad in the daytime, especially when it has
young to feed. It would seem to suffer less from the glare of the sun than from the
persecutions of small birds which often follow it about in large numbers, harassing it
continually from every side. In Germany, according to Naumann, it has a variety of

328 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

notes, some smothered, and dull others loud and clear. ‘These notes are often vari-
ously modulated by the bird itself or the action of the air, and are supposed by the
superstitious peasants to form connected sentences, as, for instance, ‘ Komm-mit, komm-
mit auf den Kirschoff-hof-hof (Come with me, come with me to the churchyard-
yard-yard) ;’ and the bird is looked on by them as a prophet foretelling death.” Al-
though this species destroys some small birds, it is in the main decidedly beneficial,
feeding mainly on mice and other small rodents, and insects.

The single other species of this peculiar genus is the spotted-owl, Athene brama,
which is a well-known and abundant bird in India, where it replaces the little owl.

In the extreme southwest of the United States, a tiny owl is found, which seems to
be somewhat nearly related to the several species already mentioned, although per-
haps equally near the pigmy-owls which follow. It is known as Whitney’s owl, JJ/i-
crathene whitneyi, and the first specimen was taken by Dr. J. G. Cooper at Fort
Mojave in the valley of the Colorado in 1861. During the next dozen years only two
or three more specimens came to light, and it is. only within the last three or four
years that it has been met with more abundantly, while it is still very rare in collec-
tions. It is undoubtedly the smallest known species of owl, and one of the very
smallest of all birds of prey; the only ones which approach it at all being one or
two species of the pigmy-owls (Glaucidium) and the finch-faleons (Z/ierax). The
total length of large specimens seldom exceeds six inches, the average being probably
about five and three-quarters inches. The tail measures between two and two and
one-quarter inches, while the wings, which are proportionally longer than in most
owls, average about.four and one-quarter inches.

Like all the owls thus far mentioned, it has no ‘plumicorns’ (ear-tufts), the legs
are bristly, being feathered but slightly below the heel joint, and the facial disk is im-
perfect. This last condition is in most owls found to accompany more or less diurnal
habits, but the present species seems to be pretty strictly nocturnal. One of its most
peculiar characteristics is seen in the claws, which, as Dr. Coues says, are “remarkably
small, weak, and little curved; hardly more than insessorial instead of raptorial in
character.” Its coloration is not easily described, but in general it is light brown
above, each feather with an angular dot of lighter color. There is an indistinct
whitish collar about the neck, and a white stripe along each shoulder. The under
parts are whitish, blotched and imperfectly barred with reddish-brown, and the wings
and tail are brown, barred with whitish. The face is mostly white, and the iris bright
yellow. The sexes seem to be exactly alike in size and color.

This interesting little owl, so far as now known, seems to be most abundant in
Arizona, where several collectors have met with it, and two specimens have also been
taken on Socorro Island, off the west coast of Mexico. Mr. F. Stephens recently
found it fairly common in the region about Tueson, Arizona, where he found the
females frequenting the giant cactuses, and breeding in holes of their stems, while the
males were more often met with in elder and willow thickets. The first specimen was
discovered by accident, in cutting down a cactus to examine a woodpecker’s hole.

Mr. William Brewster has given an account of Mr. Stephens’ collection, and pub-
lishes many field-notes on the birds observed. Among Mr. Stephens’ notes is the
following account of the present species. “I was walking past an elder-bush in a
thicket, when a small bird started out. * Thinking it had flown from its nest I stopped,
and began examining the bush, when I discovered a Whitney’s owl sitting on a branch
with its side towards me, and one wing held up, shield-fashion, before its face. I

OWLS. 329

could just see its eyes over the wing, and had it kept them shut I might have over-
looked it, as they first attracted my attention. It had drawn itself into the smallest
possible compass, so that its head formed the widest part of its outline. I moved
around a little, to get a better chance to shoot, as the brush was very thick, but, which-
ever way I went, the wing was always interposed, and when I retreated far enough for
a fair shot I could not tell the bird from the surrounding bunches of leaves. At length,
losing patience, I fired at random and it fell. Upon going to pick it up I was sur-
prised to find another, which I had not seen before, but which must have been struck
by a stray shot.”» Mr. Brewster adds: “Rather curiously both of these specimens
proved to be adult males. It is by no means certain, however, that the males

Kh

Fic. 152. — Nyctala tengmalmi, tengmalm’s owl, and Glaucidium passerinum, pigmy-owl.

are not to a certain extent gregarious during the breeding season, for on another
occasion two more were killed from a flock of five which were sitting together in a
thick bush.”

The eggs were always laid in deserted woodpeckers’ holes in the cactuses, but were
rarely accessible without felling the trunks, which always resulted in breaking the
eggs. A single whole one, however, was obtained from one nest which was within
reach. It was pure white and measured 1.07 by .91 inches. “Fresh eggs were found
from May 10 to June 27, dates which indicate that the species breeds rather late in
season.”

Not very much larger than Whitney’s owl is the Californian pigmy-owl, Glaucid-
tum passerinum, which we may take as a fair representative of the genus Glaucidium.

830 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The members of this group resemble, in their small size, imperfect facial disk, and
lack of plumicorns, the species just described, but are readily distinguishable by their
very strong beak and strong, much curved claws, together with proportionally longer
tail, much shorter wings, and densely feathered tarsus. Their whole structure is ex-
tremely compact and strong, indicating their ability to cope successfully with animals
of their own size or larger ; hence the statements that they feed mainly on insects, and
are satisfied with a very few of these, need strong confirmation in order to appear even
plausible, while the undeniable fact that they habitually hunt more or less during the
day gives little ground for the surmise that they are inactive at night; much less, as
some writers assert, that they go to roost at nightfall like the majority of birds. We
suspect the truth to be that most of their serious hunting is done under coyer of dark-
ness, and that the observed insect-catching is only an amusement indulged in to while
away the tedious hours of daylight.

The pigmy, or gnome-owls, as they are frequently called, commonly inhabit the
deep woods, and their manner of life is very slightly known, notwithstanding their
comparative abundance in many places. Twenty-five or thirty species have been
described, and only ten years ago Mr. R. B. Sharpe admitted twenty-three or twenty-
four species, twelve of which were American. There is now, however, little question
that we have in America not more than five or six distinct species, one of which ( pas-
serinum), is the same as the European, while it is probable that the Old World species
must suffer a like reduction. Thus each of the islands, Formosa, Java, Sumatra, and
Ceylon, has been credited with its single peculiar species, while China and Japan have
another, and India and Africa each two or three more. Just how many of these are
local, climatic, or geographical races of the others, we are not prepared to say, but it
is our conviction that there are certainly not more than a dozen valid species of Glau-
cidivm known to science at the present time, and even that number may have to be
considerably lessened as our knowledge of the group increases. They are mainly
dwellers in the tropics, where they are found all round the world, but they appear to
be entirely absent from Australia.

One species, the sparrow-owl, G. passerinum, is pretty generally distributed
through Europe, and is represented in the western United States by a rather darker
race formerly separated as a species, G. californicum, but not really distinct from the
European bird. It ranges from Vancouver’s Island southward to Mexico and Gua-
temala, where, however, it seems to be partially replaced by another species, G.
Jerrugineum. This latter, like several others among the pigmy-owls, shows the
dichromatism already alluded to, some specimens being in gray plumage and others in
red, independently of age, sex, or season. The European bird, however, and its
American representative rarely show this red phase well, it being much more charac-
teristic of the tropical members of the genus. Even among these it is not known to
occur in every species, and often where a species shows red and gray forms of the
most pronounced type, individuals are also found representing every conceivable in-
termediate stage, some examples combining the red and gray in such equal proportion
that it is impossible to say which they most resemble. Independently of these phases
there is considerable variation of color and markings among individuals of the same
species, so that on the whole the pigmy-owls form a very perplexing group.

Most of the species, when young, have the upper surface of the head of uniform
color, unmarked with either spots or streaks. Few adult birds preserve this character,
and frequently the whole upper surface is spotted, streaked, or barred. The wings

OWLS. 331

and tail are almost always so, and variations in the number, color, and form of the
tail-bars seem often to be of specific importance. The under parts, especially the sides
of the breast and belly, are often heavily streaked with a darker color than that which
is found elsewhere below, while between the chin and breast, which are light colored,
there is almost invariably a darker zone or band, which may be simply an aggregation
of spots or streaks, or a belt of uniform color. Equally constant is a narrow half-
collar or are, of various tints in different species, which marks the division between the
plumage of the hind-neck and the back. It may consist simply of a few white or red-
dish feathers, or it may form a very distinct, single, double, or even triple-striped
band, but in any case contrasts strongly with the colors of neck and back which it
separates.

In size the species vary considerably, the smaller, such as passerinuwm of Europe,
or pumilum of South America, being probably not far from six inches in length, while
the Himalayan ewewloides and the South African capense, which are among the
largest, have a length of about eleven inches. The sexes vary somewhat in size, the
female, of course, being the larger, and in some species there seem to be slight differ-
ences in color between the sexes. There is also not a little difference among species
in the degree of nakedness of the feet, for while most of them have the feet merely
bristly and the tarsi well feathered, one or two have the toes fairly feathered ; in others
they are but scantily provided with bristles, and in some the feathers of the lower
part of the tarsus are reduced almost to bristles.

The Cuban pigmy-owl, G. sijw, is said to differ from all others in that the nostril
opens at the edge of the cere instead of in its middle. Fair examples of the remaining
species are the two found in North America — the Californian pigmy, G. passerinum,
and the red-tailed pigmy, G. ferruginewm. The normal plumage of the former is
chocolate or umber brown above, with numerous small, rounded spots of reddish white ;
below, pure white, with spots of brown and streaks of black, the wings with three, and
the tail with seven or eight incomplete white bars. The red plumage is very similar,
except that the umber brown is replaced everywhere, except on the tail, by a rusty
brown of varying intensity. The red-tailed pigmy, in normal plumage, is very differ-
ent. With much the same general color above, the markings on the head are narrow
streaks of dirty white. There are no spots below, but the sides have long dashes of
brown. The wings have five rufous bars and some whitish spots, while the tail varies
from brownish-red to clear rufous, and is crossed with six or eight bars of dark brown.
The red plumage, which is of frequent occurrence, is very marked, often almost hiding
both the light markings of the upper parts and all the markings of wings and tail, the
black cervical collar alone remaining conspicuous. This species was taken by Mr.
Sennett in Texas, and by Captain Bendire in Arizona; but it is properly a more
southern bird, ranging from Mexico to Peru and Bolivia. Of its habits little seems to
be on record, but they probably do not differ much from those of allied species.

The Californian pigmy is perhaps better known; but the records of this bird’s
habits leave much to be desired. On Vancouver's Island Mr. J. K. Lord watched a
pair which had a nest in the hollow of an oak. He considered them strictly insectivo-
rous, but never saw them take insects on the wing. During the day they were more
or less on the alert for insects, but were especially active in the twilight of morning
and evening; yet Mr. Lord believed they did not hunt at all during the night. Two
eggs only were laid by these birds early in May, but more recently (June, 1883),
Captain Bendire found a nest at Fort Klamath, Oregon, which contained four young.

332 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

It was in the cavity of a live aspen, and the young birds were feeding on a Bien
killed chipmunk ( Zamias).

A pigmy-owl, G. nanum, the Caburé of Azara, which inhabits southern South
America, is believed by the natives of that country to attract smail birds about it by
its bewitching song, after which it picks out and pounces upon one of the fattest of
its admirers, which it proceeds to devour. This story, which we have ourselves
repeatedly heard in the Province of Eutre Rios, is easily accounted for, with the
exception of the song, for nearly all owls are objects of curiosity to other birds, many
a one of which pays dearly for his inquisitiveness. It does not become us, moreover,
in the light of certain facts with regard to the musical ability of some hawks, and the
imitative powers of at least one species of owl, to smile too incredulously at these
tales; for, while we may have little or no faith in their trustworthiness, it is certainly
not impossible that birds so slightly known as these owls may possess vocal powers
not yet officially recognized.

From the larger pigmy-owls, especially those with bare feet and somewhat bristly
legs, it is but a short step to the owls of the genus Minox, which differ mainly in
larger size, much longer and pointed wings, and in having the lower part of the tarsus
mostly hairy instead of covered with feathers. The br istles of the feet are so notice-
able in most of the species that they are often called the hairy-footed owls. Were it
not for the long and sharp-pointed wings it would be difficult to separate this genus
from the preceding, to which it is certainly very nearly related. The wings, however,
in Minow, when folded naturally, reach considerably beyond the middle of the tail;
while in Glaucidium they rarely reach even to the middle, usually falling far short of
it. In size the species vary from that of a rather large pigmy-owl, say eight or nine
inches long, up to more than two feet in length, a size only attained, howey er, by the
powerful-owl, Winow strenua, of New Zealand.

The genus seems to be nearly confined to the Indo-Malayan and Australian regions,
ranging from Japan to New Zealand, and reaching Ceylon and the Himmalehs
on the west. A single species also, VV. swperciliaris, is credited to Madagascar. It
is almost impossible at present to do more than guess at the actual number of species
included in the genus. As many (twenty-five or thirty) have been described as in
the preceding genus, perhaps with no better grounds, and species-makers are still
publishing new ones on the strength of single, and oftentimes young or imperfect,
specimens. Much of the territory lying within the range of the genus is also as yet
unexplored, and may reasonably be expected to yield one or two new forms, as well as
some new light on the relationship of the various doubtful members of the group.

One widely-ranging species, V. seutulata, is found throughout the whole extent of
the Indo-Malayan region, but is absent from Australia, while a second and closely
allied species inhabits the Himmalehs; Australia has several large species; New
Guinea is credited with as many more, while nearly every good-sized island among
the East Indies claims at least one peculiar species. Some of these seem to be well
marked, while others are unquestionably only local forms of well-known species, or
even mere individual varieties.

Many beautiful birds are found among the species of Ninow, the colors being
usually soft grays and browns, with black or white touches here and there, and the
wings and tail often barred with light and dark. Russet-browns, and even brighter
rusty tints, are so common that one cannot help suspecting that dichromatism is
common here as well as among the pigmy-owls, though it has not yet been recognized

OWLS. 333

so far as we are aware. The hairy-footed owls are more graceful in shape than most
of those we have thus far considered ; the long tail and wings, together with the smooth,
tuftless head, and less-staring eyes than usual, combining to give a neat and attractive
appearance. Though not so notoriously diurnal as some others, the most of them see
well by daylight, and seem perfectly able to take care of themselves if disturbed in
the middle of the day. A specimen of WV. scutwlata (hirsuta), taken in southern Cey-
lon by Lieutenant Legge, had its stomach crammed with undigested beetles, although
it was shot about two o’clock in the afternoon, showing that it must have been feeding
late in the morning ; and, indeed, the same collector observed that this species regu-
larly ‘hooted’ before sunset and long after sunrise, as well as through the night.
Mr. Swinhoe found the northern race (japonica) of this same species to be migratory
at Chefoo, north China, passing northward in May and returning in October.

The powerful-owl, Vinox strenua, of Australia, is said to be chiefly nocturnal in
its habits. According to Gray, it is an inhabitant only of the ‘brushes,’ particularly
those along the coast from Port Philip to Moreton Bay, and has a note “hoarse, loud,
and mournful, resembling the bleating of an ox.” As already stated, it is the largest
member of the genus, and also the largest owl of Australia, and only equalled in size
among the diurnal birds of prey in that country by the wedge-tailed eagle, Aguila
audax, and the white-bellied fishing-eagle, Jchthyaétus leucogaster. Only slightly infe-
rior in size is the winking-owl, V. connivens, also of Australia, a well-known inhabi-
tant of the wooded districts, where it hunts by day, and is said to be one of the most
merciless enemies of the koala, or Australian bear, Phascolurctos cinereus, the young
of which it often carries off bodily.

A much smaller bird is the New Zealand owl, NV. nove-zealandia, in which, accord-
ing to W. L. Buller, the female is smaller than the male, a statement which, if sub-
stantiated, will record a fact unique, so far as we know, among birds of prey.

Apparently belonging to the same section as the foregoing five genera, is the rare
and little-known laughing-owl, or white-faced owl, Sceloglaux albifacies, of New
Zealand. Although formerly somewhat more abundant than at present, it is not
known ever to have been plentiful, and is now believed to be rapidly becoming extinct.
Dr. Buller, long resident in New Zealand, writing in 1874, says of it: “As to the
present scarcity of the bird, it may be suflicient to state that I have never heard of
more than a dozen specimens, and have never seen but one living example.” It
agrees in several points, such as the tumid cere and long legs, with the genera already
treated; but its skeleton is remarkable for the great size and strength of the clavicles,
as well as for other peculiarities. Owing largely to its rarity, as well as partly to
ignorance of the interest attaching to its structure and life history, it seems never to
have been made the subject of special investigation, and so is in a fair way to become
extinct before its true relations to other species or groups have been fully settled. It
is a rather large owl (about a foot and a half long), with about the same proportions
as the barn-owl (Aluco), except that the wings are shorter. Its specific name, a@/bi-
facies, refers to the whitish color of the face and sides of head; but these parts are
all more or less streaked with brown and black, so that this name is not particularly
appropriate. The name, laughing-owl, is intended to be suggestive of the odd vocal
gymnastics of the bird.

Thus far we have been dealing with owls which show a swollen cere, and nostrils
opening fairly within it, while the long legs commonly have a tendency to be bare or
bristly. The remaining owls of this sub-family, though varying much in other respects,

334 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

agree in having the uninflated cere more nearly as in the diurnal birds of prey, but
with the nostrils usually situated on the line between the cere and the bill, rarely en-
tirely in the cere, never entirely outside it. The legs, too, in a majority of the species,
are pretty well feathered, though the feet may be either perfectly bare, bristly, or
densely feathered. This last condition is exhibited in the highest perfection by the
hawk-owl and the snowy owl, species which are common to the Old and New Worlds,
and inhabit the extreme north of both continents.

Surnia funerea, the hawk-owl, so called in reference to its hawk-like appearance
and diurnal habits, is a cireumpolar species, only found in the temperate zone in win- _
ter. Fitted to withstand the severest cold, its southward movement even then most
probably depends on variation in its food supply rather than on temperature. Its
home is in the northernmost regions of America and Asia, and it is rarely seen in the
United States except in winter, though it is said to breed in some parts of Maine. It
has been taken as far south as New Jersey and Ohio, but ordinarily does not pass
south of Massachusetts. An abundant bird of Alaska, yet south of British America
it has not been met with west of the Rocky Mountains; and at any season of the year
must be considered an extremely rare bird within the limits of the United States.

Yet on rare occasions it appears along our northern border in considerable num-
bers, as was the case in October and November, 1884, when a “ wave” of them inun-
dated northern New England to an extent without a parallel in the history of the
species. Hundreds of them were killed in the course of a few weeks, and they sud-
denly became as common as ‘chicken-hawks’ in places where they had never before
been seen. Unlike most other owls, this species flies so much in the daytime that it is
not readily overlooked, and the fact that in summer it has not been noted in New
Brunswick, or even in most parts of Canada, shows that it is a decidedly northern
bird. In summer it is said to feed almost entirely on field-mice (Arvicole) and
insects, and in winter on such birds and small mammals as can be found. It is usually
seen perched on the top of some small tree, whence it makes forays for any game
which shows itself. It seems to be entirely unmindful of sunlight, and probably does
most of its hunting during the day, though known to be active at twilight. Swift and
strong on the wing, it is unusually courageous, often even attacking a man in defence
of its nest. It is known to nest in hollow trees, and Mr. Dall found the eggs in
Alaska placed in the hollowed top of a birch stub some fifteen feet from the ground ;
yet it is said by Richardson, McFarlane, and others, to build a somewhat bulky nest
of sticks, grass, and moss in large trees. The eggs vary in number from four to
seven. The heavily feathered toes have already been mentioned, and so completely
muffled are they that they are frequently spoken of as ‘paws.’ The general plumage
of the hawk-owl is quite different from that of most owls, being much more com-
pact and firm, the feathers lacking in large measure the softness and fringed edgings
so characteristic of owls’ plumage in general. The form, too, is slender and trim, the
wings and tail quite long, the facial dise quite imperfect, and the general appearance,
at rest or in action, decidedly hawk-like. The colors are umber-brown, black, and
white, the face and throat being entirely whitish, often bordered below and at sides
by a varying amount of black. The upper parts are variously spotted with white on
a brown ground, and the under parts closely barred from upper breast to tail with
reddish brown bars on a white ground.

The hawk-owl of northern Asia and continental Europe is lighter colored than the
American bird, and is usually separated as a geographical race (aula). Dr. Brewer,

OWLS. 335

however, has recorded the capture of both forms at Houlton, Maine, while according
to Dresser the Asiatic form does not occur in Great Britain at all, but whenever a
hawk-owl has (rarely) been taken there, it has proved to be in the plumage of the
American bird.

The snowy-owl, Vyctea scandiaca, is a much better known bird than the preceding,
owing, doubtless, in part to its large size and snowy plumage, but also to the fact that

FiG. 153. — Nyctea scandiaca, snowy-owl, and Syrnium lapponicum, great gray-owl.

it has a much wider range, being not uncommon in all the northern United States in
winter, and having occurred even in Kansas and Texas. Occasionally it becomes
abundant in the United States in winter, several invasions similar to the ‘wave’ of
hawk-owls mentioned above being on record. Apparently the latest of these took
place during the winters of 1861-62 and 1876-77. Of this last inroad, Mr. Ruthven
Deane has given an account from which we extract the following : —

“ About the first of November, 1876, large numbers suddenly appeared along our
coast. This being the season when sportsmen and the market gunners were in pursuit

336 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

of water-fowl on the sea-shore, dozens of snowy-owls were shot by them, and sent to
the markets and to the taxidermists, so that during the three following weeks it was a
common thing to see them hanging with other game in the markets, or confined alive.
I first heard of them on our Massachusetts coast as frequenting the islands off Rock-
port, where numbers were taken.

“One gunner spoke of seeing fifteen at once on a small island one foggy morning,
nearly half of which he procured. Several were shot in the very heart of the city of
Boston, where they were occasionally seen perched upon the house-tops or church
spires. The migration seems also to have extended far to the southward of New
England, as I learn from Mr. Boardman that specimens have been taken as far south
as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. In Philadelphia Mr. John Krider, the
well-known taxidermist, had forty sent to him for preparation during October and
November. One was taken near Baltimore during the last of September. I have
heard of some five hundred specimens that have been seen, the majority of which have
been shot.”

They are found all over northern Europe and Asia, and are occasionally taken in
Great Britain, and there seem to be no constant differences of any kind between Old
and New World specimens, unless Mr. Sharpe’s observation, that in European birds
the toes are much more heavily feathered, should prove always to hold true. The
general color of the snowy-owl is pure white, usually more or less distinctly barred
with brown, and it is doubtful if these brown markings are ever entirely lacking on
the hind neck, while birds which with this exception are entirely white are extremely
rare, and are usually very old males. Young birds, even when fully feathered, often
show as much brown as white, and it has been noticed that the specimens which range
southward in winter are almost always these much-spotted individuals, fairly white
birds being always comparatively rare.

This owl and the gyrfaleon are probably the only birds of prey which remain in
the Aretic regions through the winter, but it seems to be unaffected by the cold, and
has been met with as far toward the pole as man has yet reached. It is interesting to
notice that no seasonal change in plumage, like that which the ptarmigan undergoes,
has been observed in this species, which, when adult, needs no’ protective coloration,
and so retains its white dress through the summer. The nestlings, however, are at
first of a uniform sooty-brown, which must be a considerable protection to them
during their long stay in the nest, in its exposed position on the ground. This bird is
known to breed in Labrador, said to do so in Newfoundland, and suspected of it even
as far south as Maine, but its true breeding range probably does not extend south of
the parallel of 50°, while it breeds most abundantly very much farther north. The
nest is seldom more than a hollow in the moss, or a slight depression in a ledge, with
perhaps a few feathers added. In this simple affair from six to ten eggs are laid, usu-
ally at intervals of at least several days, so that the first have hatched before the last
are laid, and the young birds thus contribute their warmth to the other eggs, leaving
the parents more at liberty to seek food for themselves and their young.

The same habit has been noticed among other owls, especially among those which
breed early in the spring, when the weather is still very cold. The snowy-owl is
almost as diurnal in its habits as the hawk-owl, hunting, however, both by night and
day whenever circumstances favor or require it. Though usually quite shy and diffi-
cult of approach, it is said to be easily decoyed within range, when there is snow on
the ground, by tying a mouse, a bit of hare’s skin, or even a bunch of dark rags, to a

OWLS. 337

long cord, and letting this drag behind as the hunter walks. Its fondness for fish has
been frequently noticed, and this partly explains why, during its winter visits to the
United States, it is more abundant on the seaboard than in the interior.

Many other owls are fond of fish and are skilful in catching them, but only two
genera seem to have the feet specially modified for this purpose, viz., the African
genus Scotopelia, and the Asiatic Aetupa. In both these forms the under surface of
the toes is thickly beset with papille or spicules, as in the osprey, and the large,
strongly curved talons are of nearly equal length on all the toes. In Scotopelia the
head is smooth, and the tarsus is entirely bare behind, and only feathered in front for
a little distance below the tibio-tarsal joint; while in Avefpa rather less than the
lower third of the tarsus is bare, and the head has prominent plumicorns two or three
inches in length. Three species of each genus have been described, but the characters
on which they are founded would seem, from the descriptions, to be very slight. All
are very large owls, and
are supposed to feed large-
ly, if not entirely, on fish
and crabs, but, as they are
inhabitants of the deep
forests and appear to be
nocturnal in habits, they
have seldom been seen
fishing. Mr. Swinhoe,
while at Ningpo, China,
dissected a specimen of
Ketupa flavipes which had
the stomach “ crammed
with bones and other re-
mains of fishes, the largest
about four inches long.” Scotopelia peli is found in western and southeastern Africa,
and Aetupa ceylonensis is from India and China, while A. javanensis, the smallest
form, inhabits the East Indies and Malay Peninsula.

The horned-owls of the genus Budo, inhabiting nearly all parts of the world except
Australia, are remarkable for their large size and great strength, as well as for the
great development of the plumicorns or ear-tufts. The number of species is variously
estimated at from half a dozen to two or three dozen.

Good representatives of these magnificent owls are the great horned-owl, Bubo
virginianus, of America, and the eagle-owl, B. ignavus (or maximus), of the northern
parts of the Old World. The latter is probably as large as any in the genus, and one
of the very largest of all owls, slightly exceeded in linear dimensions, perhaps, by one
or two others, but in strength and prowess surpassed by none. An adult female
measures about twenty-six inches from bill to tip of tail; the wing is from eighteen
to nineteen inches in length, and the plumicorns from three to three and a half.
The weight of such a bird in fair condition is nearly eight pounds. As in all the
members of the genus, the tarsi are well feathered, the facial disk is imperfect,
the part below the eye much exceeding in area that above it, and the plumage is
of a mottled character, — black, white, and various shades of brown being the prevail-
ing colors. ;

The eagle-owl is now extremely rare in Great Britain, but in mountainous and

VOL. Iv, —22

Fic. 154. — Leg of Scotopelia ussheri, showing spicules.

388 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

wooded regions of the rest of Europe it is rather common, breeding abundantly in
Scandinavia, in Spain, on the wooded slopes of the Urals, and thence eastward across
Siberia to China. In many parts of Germany it is still common, but probably decreas-
ing steadily in numbers. According to Dresser, “An official list states that two
hundred and two specimens were killed in Bohemia in 1857, which appears almost
doubtful, though the total number of owls of all sorts killed there is in the same list
stated to be eight thousand six hundred and seventy.” According to the same

FG, 155. — Bubo ignavus, eagle-owl.

author, this bird is one of the boldest and most rapacious of European birds of prey,
being a match even for the eagle. Yet, though it sees well in the daytime, it is
frequently chased about and stooped at by peregrines and smaller falcons, until com-
pelled to seek safety in a dense thicket or beneath a projecting rock.

“Usually it remains quiet during the day, hidden in some dark ravine or dense
forest, but often appears about in search of prey quite early in the evening, before the
twilight has set in. Its flight, like that of all the owls, is noiseless and powerful; and

OWLS. 339

its note, a deep and loud hoot, consisting of the syllables Av, Aw, modulated in various
ways, can be heard at considerable distances. Uttered at night, from some dark,
gloomy-looking gorge, the gruff call-note of the eagle-owl sounds peculiarly weird and
wild. It occasionally varies its usual note, so that it may be sometimes likened to a
hoarse laugh, and at others it is not much unlike the neighing of a horse. The super-
stitious peasants in the north believe, when they hear the hoot of this owl, that evil
spirits are about; and the various legends of the wild huntsman, the so-called ‘ wilde
Jagd, so firmly believed in by many of the German peasants, doubtless have their
origin from this bird. Few birds of prey are so destructive to game as the present
species; for there is no game-bird, not even the capercaillie, which is too large for
him, and he does not disdain to hunt after the smaller species also; mice and rats,
hares, rabbits, young fawns, black-game, pheasants, partridges, and hazel-grouse, all
are equally good in his sight, and form a portion of his daily diet when obtainable ;
but jays, and especially crows, appear to be favorite articles of food with him, and
remains of the latter are very frequently met with in his larder.”

It seems ordinarily to prefer for nesting purposes a ledge of rock, or some cranny
in the face of a cliff, yet in forest regions it is known to nest in trees or even on the
ground; and, in the treeless downs of Turkey, according to Messrs. Elwes and
Buckley, “it chooses a bank of earth on the side of a ravine for its eyry, and scratches
out a hole for the eggs in the bare ground, sometimes within sight of every passer-by.
We found a nest of four hard-set eggs on April 8th, and others containing young
birds a fortnight later.” It also breeds freely in confinement, and in some places in
England has been almost domesticated. According to Mr. Gurney, forty-nine young
have been reared from a single pair between 1849 and 1873, this pair having laid, in
all, seventy-one good eggs and several bad ones.

The American great horned-owl, Bubo virginianus, is quite similar in general
appearance to the bird just described, but is decidedly smaller, the total length being
from four to six inches less, the wings shorter by three inches or more, and other
parts in proportion. While the colors themselves are much as in ignavus, the pattern
is quite different, the lower parts, instead of being streaked and spotted, are barred
with black, there is a black ring nearly encircling the facial disk, and a large, pure
white patch on the upper breast and throat.

This fine owl is far more abundant in the eastern United States than is generally
supposed, and it is probable that there are very few townships in which there are any
considerable stretches of woodland where it is not resident. Inits habits it is much like
the eagle-owl, preying not only on large game, such as hares, grouse, and, according to
Audubon, turkeys; but also on rats, field-mice, reptiles, and fish. Although its dispo-
sition can hardly be called gentle or affectionate, and it is less easily managed than
the snowy-owl, it is far from being always the “fierce and untamable” bird which it
has so often been described. Dr. Coues took a pair of young at Pembina, Dakota,
which were still in the white down. He kept them through the entire summer, and
they became quite tame. We extract the following from his account : —

“They became so thoroughly tame, that, as their wings grew, enabling them to
take short flights, I used to release them in the evening from the tether by which they
were usually confined. They enjoyed the liberty, and eventually used to stay away
all night, doubtless foraging for themselves for their natural prey, and returning to
their shelter behind my tent in the morning.

“These owls were most active during the night; yet it would be a great mistake

340 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

to suppose their vision is much restricted in the daytime, notwithstanding they belong
to a group of owls commonly regarded as nocturnal. They passed most of the day,
indeed, crouching in the shadow of the tent, and it was only toward sundown that
they became active, flying the length of their tether in the attempt to reach the
ridge of the tent; yet their vision was acute at all hours. I often saw them look up
and follow with their eyes the motions of a grasshopper or butterfly flickering several
yards up in the air. On one occasion in particular, I saw them both gazing stead-
fastly, and on looking up to see what had attracted their attention, I was myself
blinded by the glare, for the direction was exactly in the sun’s eye. But a few
moments afterwards I discovered a pair of white cranes floating in circles half a mile
high. The owl’s eyes endured a glare that my own could not, and the birds certainly
saw the objects, for they slowly moved the head as the cranes passed over. The best
of the supposed performances of an eagle soaring in the sun’s eye could not excel
this. Nor was the inner eyelid drawn over the ball to shade it. I had abundant
evidence, on this and numerous other occasions, that the movements of the birds’ iris
are entirely under the control of the will, instead, as commonly supposed, of being
automatic, depending upon the stimulus of light. I frequently saw them instantane-
ously relax or contract the quivering iris in accommodating their vision to different
objects or different distances; and, moreover, they could move the irides indepen-
dently of each other; for they often looked at objects with one eye only, the other
being sleepily half closed; and on such oceasions the pupils were generally of different
sizes. They varied in diameter from that of a small split-pea, to that of a finger-
ring; in the latter condition the iris was a mere margin about a tenth of an inch in
diameter. In the night-time I always found the pupil largely, if not fully, dilated; at
every stage of contraction it remained perfectly circular.”

Others have been less successful in taming these birds, some failing entirely,
others making but a partial suecess. In the “ Auk,” Mr. J. W. Banks has given some
of his experience in this respect, together with many interesting notes, from which we
select the following: “ Nothing in the shape of fresh fish or flesh is neglected by the
owl when hungry, though her choice is for wild birds, and she will take small animals
in preference to beef or mutton. A rat or squirrel is always swallowed whole, and
about every second or third day the fur and bones are ejected, rolled into a hard
pellet as large as a grouse’s egg. Just before ejecting these pellets the bird’s appear-
ance is very distressing. The first time I observed it I thought she must be ill, but as
soon as the pellet is out she immediately recovers. The ‘hoot’ is made with the bill
firmly closed; the air is forced into the mouth and upper part of the throat, the latter
being puffed out to the size of a large orange.”

The breeding habits of the great horned-ow] vary widely in different parts of the
country. Audubon’s experience led him to believe that it nested usually in hollow
trees, but in two cases he knew it to nest in the clefts of rocks. In many parts of
the United States it builds a large, open nest, toward the top of a tall tree; this
seems to be usually the case in New England, where the eggs are ordinarily but two
(rarely three and never more) and are laid between the middle of February and the
middle of March. .

At that early date there is often scarcely a sign of spring and the eggs must need
constant care to prevent freezing. The late Mr. W. W. Coe, of Portland, Conn., who
took one or more sets of this bird’s eggs every season for many years, informed us that
one morning, after a heavy fall of snow, he saw in the top of a tree, while trying to

—

OWLS. 341

locate a nest, what he supposed to be an old nest, as it was heaped high with snow.
While looking at it doubtfully, however, his companion struck the butt of the tree a
heavy blow with a club, and to his surprise the snowy covering of the nest was lifted
on the wings of the sitting bird, and scattered in a cloud as she hastily sped away.”

The American horned-owl has a very extensive range, as it is found from the shores
of the Arctic sea to Cape Horn, and although it presents considerable variations in
size and color, very few forms seem to be constant enough for recognition as races.
Specimens have been taken in which the color is so dark as to strongly suggest melan-
ism, while the other extreme is seen in specimens from the far north or the Alpine
levels of the mountains, which occasionally resemble quite closely, except for the
plumicorns, the snowy-owl.

The dusky horned-owl of India, Bubo coromandus, is interesting from the fact that
several instances are on record of its laying distinctly spotted eggs, though ordinarily
its eggs, like those of all other owls, are pure, unspotted white.

Miniatures of the great horned-owls are the little horned-owls, or Scops owls as they
are frequently called, from the genus Scops to which they all belong. They agree
with the members of the genus Budo in most of the characters of that genus except
size; the facial disk being imperfect in the same way and to about the same extent,
the plumicorns prominent, and the colors similar. The wings are said to be propor-
tionally longer, but this is not very obvious in the best figures we have seen, and even
the measurements do not always bear out the statement. The toes, however, are
more often bare in Scops than in Bubo, and this nakedness frequently extends some
distance up the tarsus, in one or two species even half its length. Moreover, the
Scops owls frequently show marked dichromatism, which the species of Budo never
do, and all the former are of small size, the largest not exceeding a foot in length, and
the average being only from six to seyen inches.

Mr. R. B. Sharpe, in his catalogue of the birds of prey in the British Museum, thus
speaks of this group. “ Difficult to understand as all owls are, the species of the
genus Scops are in every way the most difficult to identify. The impossibility of
procuring series of some of the species to study at the same time, the absence of infor-
mation as to the sequence of plumages from the young stage to that of the adult, and
the puzzling way in which some species seem to possess rufous phases, while others do
not, —these are all problems which time alone can solve. I can hardly expect that
all ornithologists will acquiesce in my views as to the sub-species or races which I have
believed it to be my duty to recognize. These races do exist in nature, and they may
be called by whatever name naturalists please, ‘varieties,’ ‘races,’ ‘ sub-species,’ ‘ cli-
matic forms,’ etc.; but it has seemed to me better to keep these forms, many of which
are very well characterized, distinct from one another, than to merge them all as one
species, and thus to obliterate all records of natural facts, which are plain enough to
the practiced eye of the ornithologist, though difficult to describe in words.”

Mr. Sharpe then proceeds to characterize upwards of twenty-five species, and more
than the same number of sub-species or races; about one quarter of the whole being
found in America, and the rest in the Old World, excluding Australia and Oceanica,
where none are known to oceur. It is, of course, impossible for us to name these here,
or to go into questions of the validity of species, the relationships of races, etc. Mr.
Sharpe, however, includes in the genus two owls which are perhaps better separated
under the generic title Lophostrizx, and which in size stand between Budo and Scops,
but rather nearer the former, haying a length of from sixteen to twenty inches, and

$42 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

-

the other dimensions in proportion. The plumicorns are about two inches long, and
the genus is peculiar to tropical America.

A fair representative of the remaining species is the common mottled-owl or screech-
owl, Scops asio, so generally distributed through the United States, where it is one of
the commonest of the smaller species, and, except along our southern border, the only
small owl which has plumicorns. It shows in its perfection the dimorphism which is
so common in this genus as well asin Glaucidium and several others, but its habits
appear to be about the same everywhere.

It is strictly nocturnal, or crepuscular, feeds mostly on mice and similar vermin,
and almost invariably nests in the hollows of trees, where it lays five or six eggs in
April or May in the Middle and New England states. While its food is doubtless
mainly as mentioned above, yet it eats many insects, probably catches small birds oc-
casionally, and would seem to be fond of fish from the following account by Mr. A.
M. Frazar, of Watertown, Mass. Mr. Frazar says: “On November 29, 1876, I took
from a mottled owl’s hole the hinder half of a woodcock, Philohela minor. Within
two weeks after I took two owls from the same hole, and on the 19th of January last
IT had the good fortune to take another. After extracting the owl I put in my hand
to see what else there was of interest, and found sixteen horned-pouts, Amiurus atra-
rius, four of which were alive. When it occurred to me that all the ponds in the
vicinity were under at least two feet of snow and ice, I could scarcely conjecture
where the horned-pouts could have been captured. After visiting all the ponds, I
found they had most probably been captured in one fully a mile away, where some
boys had been cutting holes through the ice to catch pickerel bait. The owl probably
stationed himself by the edge of the hole and seized the fish as they came to the sur-
face. What a busy time he must have had flying thirty-two miles after sixteen
horned-pouts!”

The ordinary cry of the mottled-owl is a tremulous and not unmusical series of
notes, and we have never heard a note from this species which would at all justify the
common name of screech-owt.

A beautiful Mexican and Central American species is the flammulated-owl, Scops
Jlammeolus, which has been taken half a dozen times or more in California, Arizona,
and Colorado, and in the last-named state has been found breeding. This is one of
the smallest species of the genus, and readily distinguished from S. asio by its per-
fectly bare toes and very short plumicorns.

The common species of Europe is the scops owl, Scops giu, which is slightly
smaller than our common mottled-owl, and differs
further in its naked toes. In general appearance
and plumage, however, they are quite similar,
though specific characters for their separation are
easily found, and it has even been proposed to
place the American birds of this genus in a sep-
arate sub-genus, from that which should include

Fig. 156. — Foot of Scops giu. S. giu. In habits all the species seem to be quite

similar; essentially nocturnal, and rarely nest-

ing anywhere except in hollow trees or deserted woodpeckers’ holes, though S. giu

has been known to lay its eggs in the deserted open nest of another bird, in a thick
evergreen tree.

We now come to a group of three genera, in which the facial disk is very highly

OWLS. 343

developed, and extends equally above and below the eye, so that this organ is really
situated in its centre. ‘The external conch of the ear is very large, and provided with
an ample operculum or flap, by which it can be completely closed at pleasure.
Most of the species are strictly nocturnal.

The first genus, Asio or Otws, contains but very few species, among which we may
mention first the long-eared owl, Aso otus ( Otus vulyaris), common to nearly all the
countries of the northern hemisphere, but only found in woods, where it usually
remains quiet by day, hunting entirely at night. The plumicorns are very long in
this species, and are habitually carried erect. It is a plentiful bird in the United
States, and, though most abundant during the migrations, is probably sparingly resi-
dent in most wooded regions, and breeds. It usually selects for this purpose the old
nest of a crow or hawk, but probably sometimes builds for itself. Dr. Brewer, in
describing its breeding habits as observed by Dr. Cooper near San Diego, California,
says: “On the 27th of March he found a nest — probably that of a crow —built in a
low evergreen oak, in which a female owl was sitting on five eggs then partly hatched.
The bird was quite bold, flew round him, snapping her bill at him, and tried to draw
him away from the nest, the female imitating the cries of wounded birds with remark-
able accuracy, showing a power of voice not supposed to exist in owls, but more in the
manner of a parrot.” The European and American birds differ slightly, the latter
being, as usual, rather darker. Another peculiar species, Asio stygius, is found in
South America.

The short-eared owl, Asio accipitrinus ( Otus brachyotus), is closely related to the
preceding, but differs widely in appearance, the plumicorns being very short, and
often hardly appreciable. This species probably has the widest range of any known
owl, being found all over Europe, Asia, and a large part of Africa, and in both North
and South America as well as in the Falkland and Hawaiian islands; and, contrary to
the usual rule among owls, it differs but very slightly in size or coloration in different
parts of its range.

It is one of the few species exclusively inhabiting open country, preferring mead-
ows or uplands covered with rank grass, and in such situations its nest is usually built.
This is commonly but a shallow cavity scratched in the ground, and lined or sur-
rounded with a few leaves or grass stems, and contains from four to seven eggs.
While this is probably its ordinary mode of nesting, Mr. Dall found it breeding in
burrows in the sides of steep banks on the island of Unalashka, the nest placed at the
end of the burrow, and from one to two feet from the entrance. This bird ranges far
into the Arctic regions, and its migrations are performed with considerable regularity.

In winter, wherever it is found, it seems somewhat gregarious, and usually several
individuals will be found resting near each other in the grass during the day. Some-
times they appear in unusual numbers, an instance of this kind having been observed
by Mr. W. E. D. Scott, near Princeton, N. J., in the autumn of 1878. He says: “I
am informed by most credible witnesses that late in October, or about November 1,
there appeared in a field of about forty acres, which was covered with a heavy growth
of long, dead grass, vast numbers of owls. A visit to the field in question, which is
directly adjacent to the railroad depot at Harlingen, and a talk with farmers living
close by, gave me the following additional data: The birds were exclusively the short-
eared owl (Brachyotus palustris), as I learned from an examination of specimens in
the possession of several farmers. Their number was variously estimated at from a
hundred and fifty to two hundred. Many were shot, and, as some are still to be found

B44 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

in the field in question, I should think this locality had been fixed on as a wintering
point. There are no trees in the field, and in the daytime the birds rest on the
ground. They hunt for food morning and evening, and sometimes on dark days.
Throughout this and adjoining townships these owls have been more or less common,
and many have been brought in by gunners. In previous years I have looked on this
species as rather rare, and some seasons have passed without my meeting with them.
Since writing the above, two other points, at which vast numbers of these birds have
congregated, have come to my knowledge, and in each case the conditions of locality
are identical with those above described.”

The genus Nyctale includes, probably, but two species, viz., Tengmalm’s owl, WV.
tengmalmi, of Europe (Fig. 152), with its American race, called Richardson’s owl, and
the Acadian or saw-whet owl, WV. acadica, which is peculiar to North America. The
genus is marked by its untufted head, heavily feathered feet and toes, and small size.
The skull also is extremely asymmetrical, and especially the ears.

Richardson’s owl is one of the rarest species occurring within the limits of the
United States, being only seen there in winter, and very few specimens being taken
then. Further north it is more common, but its habits, especially in the breeding
season, are little known. Dr, C. H. Merriam gives the following note on it, as observed
by Mr. Comeau, at Godbout, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, at its
junction with the Gulf. “A common winter resident and very tame. This owl has
a low, liquid note that resembles the sound produced by water slowly dropping from
a height; hence the Montagne Indians eall it pillip-pile-tshish, which means ‘ water-
dripping bird.” These Indians have a legend that this was at one time the largest owl
in the world, and that it had a very loud voice. It one day perched itself near a large
waterfall and tried not only to imitate the sound of the fall, but also to drown the
roaring of the torrent in its own voice. At this the Great Spirit was offended, and
transformed it into a pigmy, causing its voice to resemble slowly dripping water instead
of the mighty roar of a cataract.”

It is a little larger than the mottled owl, and, besides lacking the plumicorns, it is
at once distinguished by its chocolate-brown color above, spotted with white, and the
white under parts striped lengthwise with brown.

The Acadian owl, Wyctale acadica, is little more than half the size of Richardson’s
owl, which it resembles considerably in color. It seems to be less northerly in its
distribution, and, although nowhere very abundant, it is pretty generally distributed
over the United States, and extends southward into Mexico. The young, in its first
plumage after the down, is a very different looking bird from the adult, being pretty
uniform olive-brown all over, but paler on the lower breast and belly, the wings and
tail with indications of white bars, and the eyebrows pure white, in strong contrast to
the surrounding dark color. From this last-named mark it took its name of white-
fronted owl, and was for years believed to be a genuine species, distinct from acadica,
and passing under the name of albifrons. Specimens of this kind, however, when
kept in confinement, speedily moulted into the full plumage of acadica, and thus
settled the question which had already been raised as to their specific identity. The
name ‘saw-whet’ is derived from the supposed resemblance of some notes of the bird to
the sounds produced in filing a saw, but it seems probable that, in order to appreciate
the strong resemblance, the listener’s imagination needs to be whetted at the same time.

This species is supposed to nest invariably in holes of trees, but it is not impossible
that it may sometimes use the deserted nest of some other bird, or even itself build a

OWLS. 845

nest in the crotch of a tree, as Richardson’s owl is said to do. Mr. W. Perham, at
Tyngsboro, Mass., has been quite successful in taking eggs of this bird by hanging up
in the woods breeding-places made of sections of hollow trunks, with tne ends boarded
up, and entrance-holes cut in the sides. In this way he has taken many nests of mottled
owls, and occasionally one of the present species breeds in the artificial nest.

Mr. William Brewster, who has published the above facts, has also given his own
experience with some of the young birds, furnished him by Mr. Perham which he
kept alive for some months. He says they ate all kinds of meat with avidity, but
seemed especially fond of mice. “The latter were invariably skinned, and the flesh
torn in shreds and devoured, the skins being swallowed afterwards as dessert. I often
saw them eject those peculiar pellets of bones, fur, and other indigestible fragments
which all owls and many hawks are in the habit of depositing about their haunts.
The operation was a peculiar one. The owl would gape several times, then the head
would be violently shaken sideways, and, finally, the pellet, coated with mucus, would
shoot forth, frequently falling several inches in front of the spot where the bird was
sitting.” These young birds were taken from the nest about the 15th of May, and
three of them were ‘ prepared’ while in the ‘albifrons’ stage, and the remaining one
had assumed the perfect plumage of the adult acadica by September 1.

The last group of the sub-family Striginze which we shall mention is the genus
Syrnium, in which the facial disk reaches its highest development, and the species, as
a whole, are quite nocturnal. The skull is quite symmetrical, and the species — of
which there are from fifteen to thirty, inhabiting all parts of the world except Aus-
tralia, Malaysia, and Oceanica— are of large size.

The type of the genus, and also of the sub-family, is Syrniwm aluco, the well-
known brown or tawny owl of Europe, formerly one of the commonest birds of prey
in Great Britain, but now far less abundant. It is a large bird, measuring eighteen
or twenty inches in length, and is noted for its almost insatiable appetite and the con-
sequent havoc it makes among small mammals and birds. It usually nests in hollow
trees, but several authentic instances are on record of its breeding in rabbit-burrows.
One of the more recent of these cases (1879) occurred in Kilmory, Lochgilphead,
Scotland, and Professor Newton remarks that it may have been due to the paucity in
that neighborhood of hard-wood trees of sufficient age and size to furnish holes or
hollow trunks, and that the habit may be in process of becoming hereditary.

The barred owl, 8. nebulosum, of North America is of about the same size as the
brown owl, and is an abundant bird in wooded regions of the eastern United States,
being very abundant in the Gulf States, and especially in Florida and Louisiana. It
usually nests in hollow trees, but not unfrequently, especially in the northern States,
in the old nest of a hawk or other large bird.

One of the largest and finest birds of prey, and a fitting one with which to close
our account of the Striginw, is the great gray-owl, Syrniwn cinereum, an extremely
rare winter visitor to the northern United States, probably only resident within our
borders in Washington Territory. It is one of the species common to the northern
parts of both hemispheres, and the American race differs only in darker colors from
S. lapponicum of North Europe and Asia, figured on page 335.

This magnificent bird measures from twenty-eight to thirty inches in length, and
its color is dark brown above, with whitish mottling on every feather; and below,
grayish white, the breast streaked, and the abdomen finely barred with deep brown.

In the northern parts of the continent it is rather abundant, and, although fitted for

346 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

a nocturnal life, it of necessity hunts by daylight during the summer. But as it is
essentially a forest bird it keeps in the shadow of the trees as much as possible, and
has been observed to be most active when the sun is at its lowest point. Its food is
stated to consist largely of hares and smaller mammals, but in Alaska Mr. Dall found
it feeding almost entirely on birds.

The structure and affinities of the singular East Indian Phodilus (or Photodilus)
have already been briefly alluded to, and, as we are unable to present any account of
its habits, we need only add here that the single species, P. badius, is a native of the
eastern parts of India, and has been found in Ceylon, Java, and Borneo.

The barn-owls (sub-family Aluconine) form a small group, the members of which
resemble each other very closely, while they differ strikingly from all other owls. We
have already shown how different is their bony structure, and their superficial appear-
ance is equally remarkable. The facial disk here reaches its highest development, but
instead of being more or less circular, as in all other owls where it is well developed,
it is elongated and almost triangular, giving the face a most remarkable expression,
not distantly resembling that of some monkeys. Moreover, the head is much pro-
duced in front, the bill being much longer proportionally than in other owls, while the
legs are also long and scantily feathered, and the grotesque movements and strange
postures which the bird assumes still further increase its singularity of appearance.
The type of the sub-family is the European barn- or screech-owl, Aluco flammeus,
represented in North America by a slightly different form, the race or sub-species
pratincola of most authors.

The barn-owl has a remarkably wide distribution, its range being greater than that
of any other owl. It is not found in New Zealand; in America it does not ordinarily
pass north of latitude 45°, and is unknown in Seandinavia, but with these exceptions
it probably occurs all over the world.

Correlated with this extensive range, we find great variability, and many of the
more or less permanent ‘varieties’ or races have long been considered true species.
Thus North American birds are almost invariably darker than average European ones;
but a dark phase very like that of the American bird sometimes occurs in Germany
or England, while specimens from the West Indies are fully as light colored as the
lightest European ones, and about equalled in this respect by Australian birds. Not
only do the colors vary in kind and intensity, but the pattern of coloration is some-
what variable; some birds being irregularly barred below, others spotted, and still
others immaculate white. In most of the races the tail has from four to six dark bars,
but Jamaican birds have the tail pure white, and English ones almost so. There is,
furthermore, considerable difference in size, and some slight difference in the propor-
tions of parts. The smallest birds are probably those of Europe, scarcely exceeded,
however, by the South American form, while the North American birds are much larger
than the European, and these again are far excelled by those of Java and Australia.

All these forms and many others were formerly ranked as so many separate species,
but out of fifteen or twenty names in general use a score of years ago for forms then
considered specifically distinct, all but four or five are now pretty generally admitted
to indicate only geographical races, or light and dark phases of the single species,
Aluco flammeus. 'These four or five seem to differ more strongly from the common
type than any of the others, but it is noticeable that even here the differences are
entirely of degree, and not of kind; the principal points being depth of color, degree
of spotting, and size or shape of spots.

OWLS. 34T

To these must be added the wide differences in size, but these lose much of their
significance in view of the very great yariation in this respect among the different
races of flammeus. A small specimen of the European barn-owl (typical fammeus) is
perhaps not more than thirteen inches long, with a wing measuring eleven inches and
tail five. Its general color may be very nearly white, especially below; the tail per-
fectly white, or with only the faintest suggestion of orange, without dark bars. The
back and upper surface of wings is pale orange or buff, delicately mottled with silver

Lipa
Ma

a,

“aps

'

alt
Ait

“

a

H
FIG. 157. — Aluco flammeus, barn-owl.

gray, and with many distinct white spots, each accompanied by a black one.
pare such a bird with a large female of the barn-owl of Van Dieman’s Land, A. cas-
tanops. The latter is twenty or twenty-one’ inches long; the wing measures from
fourteen to fifteen inches, and the tail about eight. The lower parts are “deep golden
buff,” with spots and bars of blackish; the upper parts, including the wings, choco-
late brown; the tail even darker, but crossed with five or six bars of “golden buff,”
while the face, instead of being pure white as in flammeus, is light chestnut, with a
black patch in front of the eye.

Com-

848 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

They certainly appear very different, but when we find that they are, perhaps, the
two most different individuals which we could have selected, and that between them
we can place forms which shall connect them by almost every possible gradation of
color and size, we ought to feel less certain of their specific distinctness than we did
at first. It is to be borne in mind that among owls the sexes usually differ very much
in size, though they are not known to differ materially in plumage; and it is also sig-
nificant that the species of Aduco still considered distinct from flammeus are mostly
but slightly known, and are comparatively rare in collections. Hence, in considering
the habits of the birds of this genus, we shall ignore the rarer members, and speak
simply of the barn-owl, meaning thereby A. flammeus, or any of its races. And first
we might remark that the more appropriate name for this bird is the sereech-owl, for
certainly, of all the owls we have ever listened to, this one has the most typical and
unearthly screech. It may roost in a barn or a ruined castle in England, or lay its
eggs in the cathedral belfries of France and Italy, or the unused loft of a tobacco or
sugar warehouse in our own southern states; the hollow stub beside a marsh may
cradle its young in Pennsylvania or Australia; it may burrow in a sand or clay bank
in Texas, or breed in the chinks and fissures of cliffs in California, or in the open fork
of a banyan tree in the Philippine Islands; but, disturb it by night near any of these
its chosen haunts, and its startling ery of dismay, derision, or defiance as it vanishes,
will always be a harsh and rasping screech.

From the above remarks it will be seen that the nesting habits of this bird are
extremely various. Perhaps it may be said most often to nest in or about buildings,
and this seems to be its habit in most parts of the United States, though in many
sections it is known to nest in hollow trees, and in parts of Texas it breeds abundantly
in holes in the banks of rivers. Three seems to be the common number of eggs
hatched at onee, but there is considerable evidence to show that other eggs are often
laid after the first are hatched, and there are many unsettled questions with regard to
the economy of the species. Its eggs have been found in the United States in almost
every month of the year, and it is not impossible that, as Audubon was assured in
Florida, these owls, like the house-pigeons, breed at all seasons of the year. In
Charleston, 8.C., in October, Audubon found young several weeks old and kept
watch of them for several months, during which time they were fed by their parents
exclusively on small quadrupeds, mostly cotton rats. When he first saw the young
they were clothed with a rich, cream-colored down, and even when three months old
this had not all given place*to true feathers. Although hatched early in October,
they were unable to fly by the middle of January, though apparently well fledged.

In the eastern United States this bird is abundant only toward the south. In
New England it is very rare, and, though there is an unchallenged record of its
capture in Hamilton, Ontario, in May, 1882, it is not known ever to have occurred in
Maine, though on the Pacifie coast it is abundant in California, and extends as far
north as the mouth of the Columbia. It is an interesting and valuable bird, unques-
tionably beneficial from the numbers of small rodents it destroys, and, like many other
of our owls, deserving of every protection and encouragement which will increase its
frequency in and about our homes.

The only other member of this sub-family at present known is a newly discovered
Madagascan genus, the type of which has been recently described by Alphonse
Milne-Edwards under the name J/eliodilus soumagnii.

Water B. Barrows.

PARROTS. 349

OrpveR XVI.— PSITTACI.

The parrots, though a group so well defined that the merest tyro at once recog-
nizes their limits, have made no little trouble for the systematic ornithologist. Char-
acters which in other birds are deemed even of ordinal importance here vary in the
most curious manner within the limits of one genus, thus giving rise to the greatest
differences in the systematic arrangement of the group. These superficial characters
which at once, and so forcibly, strike the observer are, however, accompanied by cer-
tain constant internal features of far more importance, so that the group is a wholly
natural one. Only a few of these need concern us here.

The parrots have the bill short and stout, the upper half extending beyond and
turning down over the lower. At the base of the bill is frequently seen a peculiar
wax-like patch (the cere), through which the nostrils open; this cere is always present,
though frequently it is concealed by the feathers. In the feet also, we notice a
peculiarity which we have not before met in the course of our survey of the birds, but
which will reappear again in some of the following groups. This is the fact that two
of the toes (first and fourth) are directed backwards, while the other two extend for-
ward in a normal manner. The tongue is usually large and fleshy, and serves to some
extent as an organ of prehension. The upper mandible is loosely articulated with the
skull; the furculum or wish-bone is weak or wanting. The primaries and tail feathers
are each ten in number,

The grouping of the parrots is in a state of dire confusion. The late Mr. A. H.
Garrod, the former protector of the Zoological Society of London, proposed a scheme
in 1874, based upon the dissections of the muscular system and the carotid arteries of
some eighty-two species, representing thirty-eight genera and sub-genera. In this the
carotid arteries were given primary importance, and the ambiens muscle was nearly
equal in systematic value. The results, however, were far from satisfactory. Besides
not being consistent with itself, it widely divorced species belonging to the same
genus, and when tested by geographical distribution gave the most astonishing results.
Though far from perfect, the arrangement of Dr. Reichenow is better than any of
its predecessors, and for that reason we adopt it here, though without accepting all of
its details.

The number of species of parrots is about four hundred and thirty, and these are
arranged in nine families and forty-five genera. The parrots are mostly inhabitants of
tropical climates, though many extend beyond the torrid zone. Our Carolina parrakeet
reaches the furthest north, while in the Australasian region forms extend to Auckland
and Macquarie Islands (55° S.). It is usually stated that the American continent is
richest in species. This statement, however, is erroneous. According to Reichenow’s
lists (1881), the American continent contains one hundred and twenty-six species and
sub-species, while the Australasian region (south and east of Wallace’s line) affords a
home for nearly one hundred and fifty forms.

Most of the parrots have a brilliant plumage, in some the display of colors being
such as to afford yery unpleasant contrasts; others are clothed in feathers so quiet in
hue as to give no offence to any member of the Society of Friends. In size consider-
able variation is to be seen. The love-birds are hardly larger than sparrows, while the
great macaws (Sittace) measure three feet from the tip of the bill to the end of the

850 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

tail. Parrots usually associate together in large flocks, some living in forests, others
on grassy plains. Their food is mostly of a vegetable nature, buds, leaves, seeds,
fruit, and the like.

Their natural voice is usually harsh and discordant, but many of the species, as is
well known, possess great imitative powers, learning not only to repeat long sentences
but also to reproduce the most complex sounds which they may hear. Capacity in this
direction varies not only with the species but with the individual.

Concerning the conversational powers of parrots, page after page could be written;
many of their sayings seem so apt that one can hardly escape the belief that they
reason as well as talk. Instance after instance is on record where it would almost
seem as if these birds took circumstances into consideration and knew the full foree of
what they were saying. Notwithstanding the limitations of space, one of these must
be quoted here. Mr. Sharpe of the British Museum is the authority for the follow-
ing: “ A friend in Manchester told the writer of a parrot-show in the north of Eng-
land, where the talking powers of each bird were made the subject of a prize
competition. Several of the birds had exhibited their powers, and at last the cover
was removed from the cage of a gray parrot, who at once exclaimed, on seeing the
company to which he was suddenly introduced, ‘ By Jove! what a lot of parrots, an
observation which gained him the prize at once.”

The owl-parrots of New Zealand and Australia are admitted by all to stand at the
bottom of the Psittacine series, where they form the family Srrmcormx, of which
but four species are known. They have a short, thick, untoothed beak; short wings
which reach to the base of the rounded tail; the nostrils free, and surrounded by a
swollen margin. The feathers are banded and spotted with yellow, green, and black.

Of the genus Stringops two species, both from New Zealand, are known, but one
of these (S. greyt) is possibly extinct. The genus may be recognized by its moder-
ately sized head, the long and stiff feathers on the face, the grooves on the sides of
the bill, and by having the fourth and fifth, or fourth, fifth, and sixth wing feathers
the longest, and the tail feathers pointed. The species rarely fly, and, from the effects
of disuse, the keel of the sternum, so greatly developed in most birds, has disappeared,
and the fureulum is wanting.

The owl-parrot, or kakapo (Stringops habroptilus), is interesting from its habits and
appearance, combining as it does to a considerable extent those of the owls as well as
of the parrots. It was first known from feathers in the possession of the Maori, and it
was not until 1845 that specimens came to the hands of naturalists. It is largely
though not exclusively nocturnal, and is a vegetarian, feeding on roots as well as on
leaves and tender twigs. In color it is green with longitudinal dashes of yellow, and
with interrupted cross-bars of black. Around the eyes are discs like those of the
owls, and here the feathers are a light yellowish brown. The irides are dark brown or
black.

Sir George Gray and Mr. A. G. Sale have written interesting accounts of this spe-
cies, and from that of the latter gentleman we make the following extract: “ During
the whole time that this bird has been in my possession, it has never shown the
slightest sign of ill-temper, but has invariably been good-humored and eager to
receive any attention. Its playfulness is remarkable. It will run from a corner of
the room, seize my hand with claws and beak, and tumble over and over with it,
exactly like a kitten, and then rush back to be invited to a fresh attack. . . . It has
also, apparently, a strong sense of humor. I have sometimes amused myself by plac-

PARROTS. 351

ing a dog or cat close to its cage, and it has danced backwards and forwards with
out-stretched wings, evidently with the intention of shamming anger, and has testified
its glee at the success of the manceuvre by the most absurd and grotesque attitudes.

4 One trick especially it has, which it almost invariably uses when pleased, and that is
to march about with its head twisted round, and its beak in the air, — wishing, I sup-
pose, to see how things look wrong way up, or perhaps it wishes to fancy itself in
New Zealand again.”

FiG. 158. — Stringops habroptilus, owl-parrot.

The kakapo is described as very intelligent, and would make a nice pet were it
more cleanly in its habits. Its nest is placed under trees and rocks, and in it, it lays
two or three white eggs. It lives in holes in the ground, and its flight is described to
be much like that of the flying squirrel. Since the advent of the whites, and the
escape into the country of cats, dogs, and rats, these parrots have decreased in num-
ber, and their extinction is but a matter of time.

The single species of Geopsittacus (G. occidentalis) is the ground-parrot of south-
ern and western Australia. Little is known of its habits, which are said to resemble

852 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

those of the kakapo. It has an extraordinarily large head. Pezoporus formosus
occupies the same regions as Geopsittacus, and extends across to Tasmania. It has
longer wings, the second and third quills being the longest.

The cockatoos, forming the family PLicroLornip«, are mostly confined to the -
East Indian Archipelago, Papua, and Australia. One of the most striking features is
the crown of erectile feathers on the heads of most of the species. When quiet these
are usually but little conspicuous; but when something excites the bird, up they are
raised, completely changing the whole aspect of their possessor. The beak is strong,
about as high as long, its upper half usually flattened or keeled, or, rarely, rounded
above. Its cutting edge is excavated behind the point. The cere may be naked or
feathered. The wings are long and pointed, and, when at rest, they cover half or
more than half of the tail. The tail may be either short or long, and its extremity
straight or rounded; never graduated or wedge-shaped.

The prevailing color of the plumage is white, black, or brown. The latter color
occurs in Vestor, White is found as a predominant color in no other family, while
black exists only in Chalcopsittacus (one of the lories), and in Coracopsis (one of the
gray parrots). The females are colored like the males, but are recognizable from their
smaller size and shorter crown feathers. All are large forms, none being smaller than
doves. The common name, cockatoo, is a good phonetic reproduction of the common
note of many of the species.

In their habits they are very social. Not only at the breeding season, but at all
times of the year, they form great flocks, usually living in the tops of the highest trees
of their tropical homes. Their nests are built in hollow trees, or in clefts of the high,
rocky cliffs. They are vegetarians, and are especially fond of grain and fruits. Still,
exceptions in this respect are to be noticed. Licmetis lives on roots and bulbs which
it digs from the earth, while Calyptorhynchus, with its strong beak, tears the bark
and excavates the rotten wood of decayed trees in its search for insects and larve.
Nestor, again, forms an exception which will be noticed below.

The family of cockatoos embraces thirty-two species, arranged in five genera.
Apparently the extinct Zophopsittacus mauritanicus also belongs to the same family,
although in some respects it is allied to the American genus Sittace.

All of the species of Westor, except one from Papua, belong to the New Zealand
fauna. They are the most aberrant members of the family, and in several respects
differ from the diagnosis given above. They lack the long crown feathers of the
others, have a tail only half as long as the wings, its extremity straight, an elongate
bill, the upper half of which frequently extends quite a distance beyond the lower.
Indeed, the whole facies of these birds is such that they are frequently arranged in the
family Trichoglosside.

Half-way between New Zealand and New Caledonia are two small islands, Norfolk
and Philip. On the latter is (or, rather, was) found the Philip Island parrot, Vestor
productus. This small island has an area of only about five square miles, and only here
oceurred this species. Though Norfolk Island is distant but four miles, this parrot
has never been found there. With this extremely restricted distribution it is no
wonder that it has now become extinct. It was fond of soft, sueculent vegetables,
and was said, by the aid of its long hooked beak, to dig roots from the earth. Still,
like all the genus, it was fond of honey and the nectar of flowers. In color it was brown
above, red below, breast, throat, and cheeks yellow. The Norfolk Island parrot, 1.
norfolcensis, a similar species, with the top of the head green, is also said to be extinct.

PARROTS. 353

In New Zealand the kaka parrot (V. meridionalis) has made itself something of a
nuisance. Since these islands were settled, and sheep-raising has become a prominent
industry, the kaka has largely forsaken its diet of fruit, vegetables, and honey, and
developed into a bird of prey. Whenever a sheep dies in the fields, the kakas gather
and devour its flesh. But they are not content with this. They are said to perch on
the backs of the animals when alive, and, with their strong beaks, to tear out pieces of

FiG. 159. — Plictolophus moluccensis, rose-crested cockatoo.

flesh for food. The ordinary note of this species is said to resemble the bark of a
small dog, but it is also capable of imitating other sounds, and, if properly taught, of
talking.

Licmetis contains two long-billed, white species from Australia, popularly known
as the slender-billed and the digging cockatoo (Z. nasicus and Z. pastinator). As
the name indicates, one species digs in the earth for its food.

The true cockatoos belong to the genus Cacatua or Plictolophus. With two
exceptions, the fifteen species are white. They have a short, high bill rounded or

VOL. Iv. — 23

354 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

grooved above, and hollowed below; the cere is naked or feathered, the tail is short
and truncate, and a well developed crown is present. The genus embraces some fif-
teen species, and several well marked varieties, or, as they are called, sub-species ; all
come from the eastern islands extending from Malaysia to Australia.

Almost every menagerie and zoological garden boasts several species of this genus,
those mentioned below being possibly the most common in confinement. They make
very interesting pets, crying now “ cockatoo,” now “ pretty cocky,” or screaming with
a voice far from musical.

The white-crested cockatoo (P. albus) comes from the Mollucea Islands. It is
everywhere white except on the insides of some of the wing feathers. It reaches a
length of about eighteen inches. Usually its conversational powers are rather limited,
but occasionally specimens are seen which can talk considerably, but their voice is
alw@ys loud.

Even more common is the yellow-crested cockatoo (P. galerita). It comes from
Australia and Tasmania, and is the most docile of the genus. It is readily distinguished
from the species just mentioned by the fact that the feathers of its crest are sulphur-
yellow, and its size somewhat larger (about twenty-two inches). A third species, the
pink cockatoo, receives its name (/. leadbeateri) from Mr, Leadbeater, an English
naturalist, who owned the first specimen brought to Europe. The color is white
above, slightly suffused with pink, while the crest is barred with crimson, yellow, and
white. Below, the feathers are also crimson. In size it is intermediate between the
two forms previously mentioned. The last species which our space will permit us to
notice is the rose-crested or Mollucea cockatoo, Plissolophus moluccensis, a bird about
the size of the great yellow-crested form, with a roseate or vermilion crest. As its
name indicates, it comes from the Spice Islands.

In their native woods these cockatoos form large flocks, which raise an almost
intolerable din. This is not their only fault, for in those regions where civilized man
has settled, they commit no inconsiderable depredations on his fields. In the aviaries
of a zoological garden, one can watch them for hours without tiring. At one moment
they are climbing about quietly, using both beak and feet in the operation; the next
instant they are all excitement, every feather is raised, and the crest is expanded and
shut with considerable rapidity. Instead of the soft ‘“cockatoo” which they were
saying a moment before, they are yelling and screeching in a manner indicative of
great passion. The cause of the anger, if anger it be, is usually some inconsiderable
trifle, or possibly some person whose appearance or adornment does not suit them.

Passing by the seven species of helmeted cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus), all of
which come from Australia or the adjacent islands, we close the family with the
arara cockatoo, the only member of the genus Microglossus. Like most others of the
genus, it has an erectile crest, but may be distinguished by its feathered cere, its
bare cheeks, its sharp, toothed beak, and its long, rounded tail. This species (JZ
aterrimus), when adult, is black, but in its younger stages is banded with yellow. In
absolute size it is the largest of parrots, measuring from twenty-eight to thirty-two
inches in length, though some of the macaws, with their longer tails, exceed these
dimensions, though with far smaller body. The great black cockatoo, or palm-
cockatoo, as this species is also called, ranges from the Malayan Islands south to the
north coast of Australia, The generic name, Microglossus, means little tongue, and is
suggested by the peculiarities of that organ.

The Piarycercip£ have the short thick beak higher than long, its lower half

PARROTS. 855

often completely hidden by feathers, the upper toothed or entire. The cere is small,
frequently feathered to the nostrils, and more or less wrinkled; the tail is long,
usually exceeding the pointed wings in length. All of the sixty-six species inhabit the
eastern hemisphere, Australia forming the centre of their distribution. They are
strong fliers, and live largely on the seeds of various grasses and other plants. They
are not stationary, but move from place to place according to the abundance or
scarcity of their favorite food. They place their nests in hollow gum-trees and

IV
Mam CEcm.

FG. 160. — Microglossus ate rrimus, black, or arara cockatoo,

Euphorbias. They are usually brilliantly colored, the two sexes differing in their
ornamentation, and the female being smaller than the male. The young are usually
colored like the female.

The three genera, Melopsittacus, Callipsittacus, and Nanodes, are Australian, and
each contains but a single species. The zebra grass-parakeet, IM. undiwatus, is about
seven inches long, yellowish green, with fine dark undulating lines on the head and
neck, a patch of blue on the cheek, the upper parts brownish green, beneath grass-

856 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

green; the two middle tail feathers are blue, the rest green. It is one of the most
abundant species in Australia, and has been exported in large numbers to England
and America. Its natural voice instead of being a harsh screech is soft and musical,
‘ and the bird makes a pretty pet, frequently breeding in confinement.

The crested ground-parakeet (Callipsittacus nove-hollandiv) is mottled with
brown, gray, and white, with a little yellow and red upon the head. Like the preced-
ing it is a gregarious species, migrating to the north in February and March and

Fia. 161. — Melopsittacus undulatus, zebra grass-parakeet,

returning to the southern shore of the island continent in September. It runs well
upon the ground, is far from shy, and is said to be very good for food.

The genus Cyanorhamphus contains fourteen species from South Seas, all bril-
liantly colored, and some of them noticeable for their extreme southern range, being
found on Auckland and Macquarie Island, away to the south of New Zealand. The
grass-parakeets of the genus Hwphema, seven in number, are bright-colored and oceur
in Australia and Tasmania. Most of them bear confinement well.

The genus Platycercus is the largest of the family, embracing, according to Reiche-

PARROTS. 357

now, forty-one species, distributed from the Malay Islands over the South Sea Islands
to Australia and Tasmania. From the other genera of the family they differ in
having the tail feathers of the same size throughout their length, and longer than the
wings, the four middle ones unequal and longer than the rest. The feathers of the
back are lancet-shaped, and one feature, which is almost characteristic of the genus, is
that all the feathers have a dark centre and a lighter margin. The species are grega-
rious, and, while grass seeds form the bulk of their food, they feed also on flowers and
various insects. All are brilliantly colored, and are killed extensively for food by the
inhabitants of the regions where they occur. Some are frequently kept as cage-birds,
the rosella parrot (P. eximius) being an especial favorite. It is active and lively,

and its colors are so bright that we must take space to describe them. The head and
back of the neck are scarlet ; below, the chin and neck are white. The feathers of the
back are dark green, edged with a beautiful lighter green, and this latter color is also
seen in the tail-coverts. The breast is yellow, shading on the belly into green.

A few small parrots with strong bills, which are higher than long, tails shorter
than the wings, a cere like that of the last family, or in the shape of a band surmount-
ing the base of the bill, form the family Microrsirractio#. Their distribution is
much like that of the last family, except that Papua seems to be their metropolis. Of
their habits but little is known except that their food consists largely of soft fruits,
supplemented by insects.

358 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Three genera, Psittacella, Cyclopsittacus, and Nasiterna, represented by eighteen
species are recognized, but so little are they known that only the last mentioned has
received a common name,—pigmy parrots. In size they are the smallest of the
order, and in their coloration green predominates, relieved by blue, scarlet, yellow,
and other colors. In .Vasiterna the tail is rounded and the shafts of the feathers
extend beyond the barbs.

The lories form the family TricHoGLossip, and have about the same distribution
as the Micropsittacide and Platycercide. The characters of their bill and tongue at
once separate them from all
others. The former is as
long as or longer than high,
smooth and usually without
distinct teeth, while the tip
of the tongue is beset with
bundles of bristly papille
(except in the genus Coryl-
lis). The cere is broadest on
the top of the bill, and runs
down on either side to a
point. The tail varies in
shape with the genus, but
is usually shorter than the
pointed wings. The lories
are quick flyers, and jump
about among the branches,
but do not climb, as do many
of the forms yet to be des-
cribed. Soft fruits form the
bulk of their food, but, as
the structure of their tongue
would indicate, they are very
fond of the nectar of flow-
ers. ‘They form large flocks,
sometimes thousands being
found together, when the noise of their loud voices is almost deafening. In all,
eighty-eight species are recognized.

The typical genus, Z'richoglossus, embraces half the family. In size they are
between a sparrow and a dove; in their coloration green predominates, and next in
order comes red, especially on the breast. The long tails taper to a rounded point,
and hence the species are known as the wedge-tailed lories. The species which we
figure comes from South Australia, and is known as Swainson’s lory. Its back, wings,
and tail are green, its head and belly blue, breast red, sides yellow, and the other parts
variously mottled with all of these colors. Its favorite habitat is in the gum-trees
(Eucalyptus) which form so prominent a feature in the vegetation of the country.
From the large flowers of these trees it extracts honey, varying its diet with insects.

=

FiG. 163. — Nasiterna pygmea, pigmy parrot.

It lays two eggs in the hollows of the highest gum-trees.
Closely allied are the broad-tailed lories belonging to the genus Domicella. Their
tails are shorter than the wings, and, as the common name indicates, are broad, the

PARROTS. 359

feathers never being pointed at the extremity. Some twenty-two species are known,
all from the Austro-Malay region. The prevailing color is red, variously marked
and mottled with blue, though occasionally one may be green, brown, or even black.
Passing by the genus Coriphilus, with its five species, we come to Coryllis, the
genus of bat-parrots, characterized by having the tail but about half as long as the
pointed wings, and the tongue without the papills, noted as characteristic of the family.
Indeed, so different are they in habits as well as structure from the other members of
the family that their separation, at least as a sub-family, seems warranted. They
have not the strong flight of the others, but jump about either when on the earth or

FiG. 164. — Trichoglossus nove-hollandiw, Swainson’s lory.

among the branches. They do not have as varied a voice as the others, but utter
only a single note. Most noticeable among them is their mode of rest. When
sleeping or even when eating, they hang head downward from the branches of the
trees or the bars of their cage. They reach much farther north than the rest of the
family, some being found in southern China and Ceylon, but the majority come from
the Malays. Many have been carried to Europe, where they form interesting pets.
They are readily tamed and become very affectionate. The prevailing color is green.
The species figured is the blue-crowned hanging-parakeet of Malacca, Sumatra, and
the adjacent islands. Its native food is fruit and berries, but in captivity it thrives
on canary seed, especially if this is varied oceasionally by ant pup or insects.

The Parzorniruip# extend farther west than the families so far mentioned, for
while some occur in the Austro-Malay region, others are found in India and Africa.

860 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

They have a strongly developed beak, higher than long, but without distinct teeth in
its margins. In color the beak is usually red, but it may be black or lead color; what-
ever its color, it always has a waxy appearance, by which these birds can readily be
separated from all the other parrots. The small cere extends across the beak, and is as
wide at the sides as at the middle; it is frequently partly feathered. The tail may be
long and tapering, or broad, straight, and short; the second and third (rarely first and
second) wing feathers are the longest. The general coloration is green. In habits the
greatest diversity is found, and no general summary will answer for all, as in the fami-
lies already mentioned.

Fig. 165. — Coryllis galgulus, blue-crowned hanging-parakeet.

First to be mentioned is the now extinct Madagascar parrot, Wascarinus obscurus.
At about the beginning of the present century living specimens were brought to
Europe, and yet, to-day, specimens are to be found only in the museums of Paris and
Vienna. Its general color was brown, with the head and the base of the tail griseous,
the beak red.

Turning now to the living forms, Paleornis must be mentioned first. This genus
embraces some twenty-two forms of long-tailed parrots which have no bare space near
the eye. They inhabit Madagascar and the Oriental regions. They are sociable
birds with loud screeching voice. The sexes are distinguished by the different color
of the bill, —red in the males, black or yellow in the females.

PARROTS. 361

Apparently one species of this family was known to the ancients. Onesicrites, the
admiral of Alexander the Great, brought from Ceylon a green parrot with a red ring
around its neck. Some have regarded this as the form known to science as Paleornis
eupatrius, while Linné thought he recognized the ancient form in a species from Jaya,
which he therefore called P. alexandri. Now most people think that the common
ring-parrot of India, the Paleornis torquatus, was the bird brought by Alexander’s
sailors. Others more or less closely allied were brought to Greece and Rome from

FIG. 166. — Pale@ornis torquatus, ring-parrot.

Africa. These were the only parrots then known, and from their beauty, as well as
their docility and powers of speech, they were great favorites

The ring-parrot occurs both in India and Africa. In the ae mer country it is one
of the most abundant of the order, not only in the forests, but even about towns and
villages. It forms a pest in some localities on account of its ravages in the fields and
gardens. It associates in large flocks, sometimes of thousands, and when these descend
on afield of grain, the amount they consume is of considerable account. It has a harsh
ery, and learns to repeat a few words, but is not nearly so good a talker as some of the
other species.

362 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The species of Tanygnathus, from the Malay region, are much like the forms just
mentioned in their habits, but they differ from them in their larger bill and smaller
tail. Zclectus shares with the Trichoglosside the common name lory. Its four
species are Malayan; they are not sociable birds, and are most abundant in the
denser forests. The racket-tailed parrots (Prionitunus) come from the same region.
Their colors are largely blue, green, and yellow, while the fact that their two middie
tail feathers terminate in broad spatules gives rise to the common name.

% .

ros pee
ae VN XAnertss :
f ‘ tye nRSN

re {
\

Fia. 167. — Agapornis roseicollis, red-faced love-bird.

Some of the love-birds are embraced in the genus Agapornis. They are very
small parrots, with a short rounded tail, and with a plumage of which the prevailing
color is green. Their popular name is well applied, for they are most affectionate
creatures, not only when in confinement, but in their native wilds, the forests of the
Ethiopian region. Usually they are kept in pairs, and the closeness with which they
snuggle up to each other bears testimony to their mutual regard. Our figure shows
the red-faced love-bird (A. roseicollis) from southwestern Africa.

PARROTS, 363

The gray parrots, forming the family Psrrract, are few in number, and are con-
fined to Africa and Madagascar. They have a broad cere covering the whole base
of the upper bill; there is a naked space around the eye, the upper mandible is
rounded and smooth, and its cutting edges are without teeth. The wings are rather
long, and the tail, about as long as the wings, is straight or weakly rounded. Their
plumage is gray or blackish, and they are without the bright feathers so characteristic
of most members of the order, but to compensate they are among the best talkers of

Fia. 168. — Psittacus erithacus, jako, gray-parrot.
, » Sray-y

the group. They fly poorly, but walk about on the ground, or climb with great agility
among the branches of the trees. They are very social and live in vast flocks, feeding
on the fruits and especially on the grains of the region, sometimes committing serious
depredations on the fields of the colonists.

Two genera are recognized, Coracopsis and Psittacus. The former embraces the
Vaza-parrots of Madagascar, species which show many points of resemblance to the
extinct Mascarine parrot mentioned on a preceeding page. Of the two species of

364 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Psittacus, P. erithacus, the jako of west and central Africa is best known, but though
this species has been common in Europe for three hundred years, almost nothing is
known of its habits in its native country. One curious fact deserves mention. In
the Gulf of Guinea are two islands, St. Thomas and Prince’s, separated by a distance of
less than a hundred miles. On the latter the gray parrots are extremely common,
“but not a single kite is met with on the island. On the neighboring island of St.

F1G. 169. — Sittace hyacinthina, hyacinth macaw.

Thomas there is an abundance of black kites, but not a single parrot, between whom
and the kites a constant warfare is waged, so that, should one of the latter get driven
over to Prince’s Island he is almost immediately set upon by the parrots and slaugh-
tered; and the compliment is returned if a parrot is so unfortunate as to land
uninvited on St. Thomas’s.”

With the largest family of parrots, the Conurip, we turn our steps to the New
World, to which all of the ninety-three known species belong. They have strong bills,

PARROTS. 365

the upper half of which may be either smooth or grooved, its cutting edges being
toothed. The cere is large and even in width across the base of the bill, and is either
naked or feathered. The tapering and long tail readily separates these birds from the
other New World forms, while from the Platycercidwe of the eastern hemisphere
they may be distinguished by having the two median tail feathers longer than the
others.

First in the order comes the genus Sittace which embraces the macaws. These
are the largest of the parrots, brilliantly plumaged birds but with the colors laid on in
utter defiance of human ideas of beauty; shades of red and blue which do not harmon-
ize are placed side by side, while the contrasts between these and the greens and
yellows which also occur is far from pleasing. In short, many appear like night-
mares of color. They are separable from others of the family by haying the orbital
region and cheeks naked or clothed with small feathers; and the second and third
feathers of the wing long, the first shorter.

Of the eighteen species only two or three can be mentioned. First comes the
hyacinth macaw, S. hyacinthina, of Brazil which reaches a length of three feet. Its
general color is cobalt blue, with yellow chin and orbital region. Of equal size is the
great scarlet macaw, S. coccinea, but it is more abundant and more widely distributed,
extending from Mexico to northern Brazil. The prevailing color is red, but this is
varied on wings, tail, and back with blue and yellow. The green macaw, S. militaris,
with the same distribution as the last, is somewhat smaller, having a total length of
about two feet and a half.

The macaws are noisy birds with harsh and unpleasant voices. They do not talk
well, and only with difficulty can they be taught a few words. They make their nests
in hollow trees, lay but two eggs at a time, and raise two broods in a season.
They are far from timorous birds, and the hunters have no difficulty in bagging large
numbers of them. Their harsh voices make them unpleasant as pets.

Of the genus Conurus, a single species enters the United States, but further south
the species are more numerous, some thirty being known, one extending its range to
the Strait of Magelhaen. Some are large, others small; the prevailing colors are
green. The larger ones are poor talkers, or cannot articulate at all, but some of the
smaller species acquire considerable proficiency in this direction. The only species
needing mention is the Carolina parakeet, Conwrus carolinensis.

The Carolina parrot, the only species of the order which enters the territory of the
United States, is apparently doomed to early extinction. At the time when Wilson
wrote (1811), it extended north to the Ohio and even beyond, while Barton states
that in January, 1780, a large flock was observed twenty-five miles north of Albany,
N. Y. To-day the distribution is much restricted. They still occur in considerable
numbers in Florida and some of the southern states west of the Mississippi river. In
color the Carolina parakeet is generally greenish, inclining to yellow below, and with
the head and neck yellow, the forehead brick red. Though an inhabitant of our own
country, it has not yet been settled whether the adults of both sexes agree in color.
Females have been killed with the head and neck green like those of young birds, but
it is not known whether this is the color of the adult female or merely characteristic
of birds of the second year.

In regard to breeding habits a somewhat similar uncertainty exists. All agree
that it makes its nest in hollow trees, and that the oval eggs equally curved at each
end are of a uniform dull white, or greenish white, but the nests are so rarely seen by

866 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

scientific observers, that our information on other points is extremely deficient. Au-
dubon thinks that several females lay in the same nest, and that each bird only lays two
eggs. They feed largely on the cockle-burr (Xanthium strumarium), but they also are
very fond of cultivated grains. Indeed it is to the fact that their depredations in the
fields of the farmer are (or have been) of serious extent that a large part of their per-
secution is due. This is not the sole cause for their diminution in numbers and
range. So-called sportsmen shoot them in large numbers for the mere purpose of

Fia. 170. — Conurus carolinensis, Carolina parrot.

killing as many as they can. Professional bird-hunters take hundreds every year in
Florida and send them to the north. All these elements are tending toward the
destruction of the species.

Nineteen species of Pyrriwra, the red-tailed parakeets, are known, all with three
exceptions from Brazil, one reaching as far north as Mexico. They are all small.
Brotogerys, also Brazilian, contains eleven species, while Bolborhynchus, with seven
species, reaches north to Mexico, and south to the Argentine Republic. One species,
the monk or gray-breasted parakeet (B. monachus), differs from all other parrots in its
nidification. All parrots, with this exception, nest in hollow trees, or in clefts in the rocks.
The monk parakeet, on the other hand, builds a free ball-shaped nest, with a lateral

PARROTS. 367

entrance to the small interior. The species of Psittacula, seven in number, range
green and blue in coloration.

from Mexico to northern Brazil. They are small birds, g

The Pionrp.2— parrots with short, broad, and straight tails, half as long as the
wings; strong bill, with the upper half grooved and toothed near the tip; the cere
extending across the base of the bill, produced in front of the nostrils, and naked ; and
a green coloration prevailing —are found in both tropical America and tropical Africa.
At the breeding season they separate into pairs, but at other times they form large,
sometimes enormous, flocks. On the ground the larger species are awkward, but the
smaller ones are perfectly at home. Their natural voice is harsh, but they are all good
talkers, some being excelled in this respect only by the jako. Over eighty species are
known, seventy belonging to the New World.

Of the genera, Androglossa (Chrysotis) is the largest and best known. It con-
tains the green parrots known as Amazons. These are distributed over Mexico, the
West Indies, and South America. They are so much alike in habits that a deserip-
tion of one will answer pretty well for all. Mr. Gosse, in describing the Jamaican
species, says : —

“Flocks varying from half a dozen to twenty or thirty fly hither and thither over
the forest, screeching as they go, and all alight together on some tree covered with
berries. Here they feast, but with caution. On a slight alarm one screams, and the
whole flock is on the wing, vociferous if not musical, and brilliant if not beautiful,
particularly when the sun shines on their green backs and crimsoned wings. They
generally prefer lofty trees, except when, in June, the ripe yellow plantain tempts
them to descend, or when the blackberry shines on the pimento. Of the latter, the
flocks devour an immense quantity, and the former they destroy by cutting it to pieces
with their powerful beaks, to get at the small seeds. One day in January, when the
pimento on the brow of Bluefields Mountain was about ready for picking, being full-
sized, but yet green and hard, I observed large flocks of black-bills [A. agilis], and a
few parakeets flying to and fro with voluble chatter, now alighting to feed on the hot
aromatic berry, now flying off and wheeling round to the same neighborhood again,

. . Of two which I shot on this occasion, I found the crop stuffed with the cotyle-
dons of the seed alone, the most pungently aromatic part of the berry; the fleshy
part having been, as I presume, shorn off by the beak and rejected. When alighted,
as is often the case, on a dry branch, their emerald hue is conspicuous, and affords a
fine mark for the gunner; but in a tree of full foliage their color proves an excellent
concealment. They seem to be aware of this, and their sagacity prompts them to
rely on it for security. Often we hear their voices proceeding from a certain tree, or
else have marked the descent of a flock upon it, but on proceeding to the spot, though
the eye has not wandered from it, and we are sure that they are there, we cannot dis-
cover an individual. We go close to the tree, but all is silent and still as death; we
institute a careful survey of every part with the eye, to detect the slightest motion,
or the form of a bird, among the leaves, but in vain. We begin to think that they
have stolen off unperceived, but, on throwing a stone into the tree, a dozen throats
burst forth into ery, and as many green birds rush forth on the wing.”

The species of Derotypus and Caica, four in number, also belong to tropical
America, while the ten of Porocephalus, the last of the order, are African.

J. S. Kinesiey.

368 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

OrpErR XVII.— PICARLE.

Coinciding with Professor Newton’s words, that the Picaris “are already a sufti-
ciently heterogeneous assemblage” to also include the owls, we retained the latter
at the end of the Raptores, though admitting that this group, thereby, becomes
even more heterogeneous than the Picarians. But, true to our principle of not
exchanging one doubtful course for another equally doubtful, we think it safer to
adhere to the arrangement adopted. That we have here indicated the true course of
development of some of the Picariw at least, —the goatsuckers and their allies, —
seems, however, less doubtful. Another line of descent seems to connect certain
forms included in the present order with the Gallinaceous birds, through the Muso-
phagide. If this view be correct, then the ‘order’ Picarize will have to be split up
according to its double descent.

To the scientific ornithologist, the Picarie form an assemblage of the greatest
interest. Their anatomy has in many instances been worked up pretty well, and has
disclosed a multitude of characters, generalized as well as specialized, extremely
marked, but pointing in all directions. Numerous classificatory attempts have been
made, based upon the most different principles, and the most varied sets of characters ;
still, whether based upon external or internal structure, the general aspects of these
different systems show greater similarity than might be expected. Messrs. Garrod
and Forbes have especially elucidated the anatomy of the Picarians, and their opin-
ions are, therefore, entitled to special consideration. A brief summary of the more
important structural features of the different groups is therefore necessary, the more
so since we are obliged to dissent from some of the conclusions of these gentlemen.

Mr. Garrod divided the forms here included into two main divisions, — the Homal-
ogonate, Which possess the ambiens muscle, and the Anomalogonatie, which do not
have it. The former, viz. the Cuculide and Musophagide, he referred simply as
families to the ‘order’ Galliformes, while of the latter, plus the Passeres, he made an
‘order’ under the above name. This order he again subdivided in Piciformes, Passer-
iformes, and Cypseliformes. The last mentioned group is generally admitted to be
natural and distinet; the other two, and the removal of the Coccygiformes, are rather
novel features, and need explanation.

The Cuculide and Musophagide are zygodactylous, 7.e., they have two toes in
front and two behind, like the woodpeckers and allied forms, with which they have
usually been placed. The structure of the foot is so characteristic that more than the
presence of the ambiens muscle would be required to remove them from that neigh-
borhood. Such additional features are also found in the skeleton, as well as in the
myology and pterylography. Not to go too deep into details, we shall only refer to
the arrangement of the muscles that bend the toes, viz. the deep plantar tendons. In
the introduction (page 14), mention is made of the fact that in the Cuculide and
Musophagide the flexor perforans splits up to supply second, third, and fourth digits
or toes, 7. e. to the three toes which in most other birds are directed forwards, while
the flexor hallucis is single, and only goes to the hallux ; this arrangement is the origi-
nal one, as it seems, and the commonest amongst the birds, hence we call it nomopel-
mous ; in the euckoos, parrots, gallinaceous birds, the two tendons are united at their
crossing point by a vinculum; these are therefore called desmopelmous, while the

PICARIAN BIRDS. 869

Passeres may be styled schizopelmous, since, being otherwise similar, they differ in
having the tendons quite separate; this arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 171A. In
Fig. 171C it is quite otherwise ; here is a zygodactylous foot, but it is the fl. perforans
which is single, only supplying the third toe, while the fl. hallucis split into three,
giving a branch to the second and fourth toes as well as to the first one, or the hallux;
being opposed to the above, and only found in these non-cuculine, pair-toed birds, we
propose to call this arrangement antiopelmous.

While on this subject we may at once deseribe two other plantar arrangements,
which obtain among birds of the present order. The trogons are also ‘ pair-toed,’ or
‘yoke-toed,’ that is, they have two toes in front and two behind; but while in the
woodpeckers the first and fourth are directed backwards, in the trogons the first and
second take that position; hence they are said to be heterodactylous. To this entirely
unique disposition of the toes corresponds an equally unique distribution of the ten-
dons, for, as shown in Fig. 171D, each of the two flexores splits up into two, the 7. hal

i

vu
B Cc D

Fic. 171. — Diagrams showing the manner of distribution of the deep plantar tendons; jlh, flexor longus
hallueis ; fpd, flexor perforans digitorum ; v, vinculum. /-/V, first to fourth toes. A, nomopelmous (schizopel-
mous) ; B, synpelmous; C, antiopelmous; D, heteropelmous.

lucis supplying first and second digits, 7. e. the posterior toes, while /. perforans bends
the two anterior toes, the third and the fourth. This structure, found nowhere else, we
shall designate as heteropelmous. We have finally to consider Fig. 171B, which repre-
sents an arrangement to be called synpelmous, since the two tendons are completely
blended. It is to be remarked that the direction of the fibres seems to indicate that
the f. hallucis goes to the fourth toe, while the branch to the first one is supplied from
the other tendon, a supposition the more probable since in a slight modification of
this arrangement the slip to the first toe (hallux) branches off from the main stem
above the point where the two tendons blend together. The synpelmous distribution
of the deep plantar tendons obtains especially in the swifts, humming-birds, goat-
suckers, king-fishers, horn-bills, and their allies, many of which are also syndacty-
lous. We may finally state as an important fact that the synpelmous, the heteropel-
mous and the antiopelmous arrangements are entirely peculiar to the present order.
Garrod thought that he had another set of characters concomitant with the pres-
sence or absence of the ambiens muscle, finding as he did that in all homalogonatous
birds the dorsal feather tract bifurcates between the shoulder, while in the anomalo-
VOL. Iv. — 24

370 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

gonatous it is simple until behind the end of the shoulder-blades. A glance at our
Figure 172, as compared with Fig. 173, representing the dorsal pterylosis of two ano-
malogonatous birds shows that the bifurcation also occurs among these, as, for instance,
in Steatornis, Caprimulgus, Coracias, ete.,

The swifts and the humming birds have neither cwca nor a tufted oil gland. This
combination was at first considered unique in the group called by Garrod Anomalogo-
nats, since all the rest, including the Passeres, were found to have either the one or
the other, hence the Cypseliformes were set apart without further dissent or discus-
sion. Then Garrod found that all of the species examined by him which had cea
were lacking a tuft to the oil gland, and that those which possessed this circlet of
feathers were deficient in ceca. This discovery led to the division of the non-eypse-
line Anomalogonate into two groups, Piciformes with tuft and no cwea, and Passeri-
formes with ceca but no tuft. As the name indicates, the latter, with several other
forms, embraced all the Passeres. As it was found out later on that some of the

Fia. 172. — Pterylosis of Ramphastos, FiG. 173. — Pterylosis of Steatornis, dorsal
dorsal surface. surface.

Momotide, which are destitute of caeca, were also possessed of a nude oil gland,
while other species had a minute tuft, resort wds had to the theory that the tuft was
lost after the two great divisions had branched off, in order to explain this “ excep-
tion.”

We cannot help thinking that too much stress has been laid upon the concomitaney
alluded to, and that, by applying it as a divisional character, forms have been artifi-
cially separated which are really closely related. With us the concomitancy of the
zygodactylous feet with the antiopelmous plantar arrangement weighs much more,
especially since cuckoos and parrots conclusively prove that these two peculiarities are
entirely independent of each other. It is extremely improbable that such an abnor-
mal arrangement as is the synpelmous one should have developed independently in
the two groups Piciformes and Passeriformes, while the case of the Momotidx proves
that the absence of the feather tuft on the oil gland is a fact of comparatively slight
consequence.

We explained above the two terms, zygodactylous and heterodactylous. Two more
will need explanation, viz. anisodactylous and pamprodactylous; the former indicates

PICARIAN BIRDS. 371

that three toes are turned forwards, while the latter signifies having all four toes
turned in that direction. The reader is now prepared to understand the following
attempt at tabulating the chief characters of the Picarian super-families : —

Homalogonatous ; desmopelmous, Cuculoidew
Coracioidee

synpelmous { Colioidew ; feet pamprodactylous dorsal tract simple be-
Alcedinoidee ; feet anisodactylous , tween the shoulders.

schizopelmous; Upupoidew ; dorsal tract fureate between the shoulders.

{ dorsal tract furcate between the shoulders.

X enters

the myo- fi 2g
i ornaio: logical antiopelmous 3; Btcoided: 5 zygodactylous dorsal tract simple
gonatous formula; | heteropelmous; Trogonoidee ; obama ke between the
A alone constitutes the! 4,.,, : pamprodactylous shoulders.
myological formula; § Mieropodview| aor
anisodactylous

In regard to the above arrangement it may be remarked that Steatornis is here
included among Coracioidex, but that it is an easy matter to change the scheme so as
to accommodate a super-family, Steatornithoidez, should it be thought advisable to
adopt such a division.

The Picarize form a group embracing upwards of eighteen hundred species, highly
characteristic of the tropical regions, for while the great majority of the families
composing it are “exclusively tropical, none are confined to, or have their chief deyel-
opment in, the temperate regions.” The Neotropical region is richer in peculiar fam-
ilies, but the total number of families represented in the Ethiopean region is greater.
In regard to the many curious features of the geographical distribution of the Picariw,
Mr. Wallace remarks: “ We may see a reason for the great specialization of this trop-
ical assemblage of birds in the Ethiopical and Neotropical regions, in the fact of the
large extent of land on both sides of the equator which these two regions alone pos-
sess, and their extreme isolation, either by sea or deserts, from other regions, — an iso-
lation which we know was in both cases much greater in early tertiary times. It is, per-
haps, for a similar reason that we here find hardly any trace of the connection between
Australia and South America which other groups exhibit; for that connection has
most probably been effected by a former communication between the temperate
southern extremities of those two continents. The most interesting and suggestive
fact is that presented by the distribution of the Megalaimide and Trogonide over
the tropics of America, Africa, and Asia. In the absence of paleontological evidence
as to the former history of the Megalaimidi, we are unable to say positively whether
it owes its present distribution to a former closer union between these continents in
intertropical latitudes, or to a much greater northern range of the group at the period
when a luxuriant sub-tropical vegetation extended far toward the Arctic regions; but
the discovery of Trogon, in the miocene deposits of the south of France, renders
it almost certain that the latter is the true explanation in the case of both these
families.”

The super-family CUCULOIDE, being homalogonatous, desmopelmous, and
zygodactylous, is to all appearance a natural group composed of two families, the
plantain-eaters and the enckoos. The former are characterized by having tufted oil
glands and after-shafts to the contour-feathers, at the same time lacking colie exea.
The cuckoos, on the other hand, lack tufts and after-shafts, but possess two cica.

In having small heads and a long neck, as also in the character of the plumage and
several structural features, the MusornaGip®, or plantain-eaters, resemble the Galli-
naceous birds, to which they certainly are not very distantly related. Indeed, the

372 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

largest species, Corythwola cristata, presents a most striking similarity to a hokko,
and is not much inferior in size. The family is strictly African, however, no species
occurring outside of the Ethiopian region proper, not even in Madagascar. The true
plantain-eaters (Musophaga) are glossy bluish or violet-black, and have a bony frontal
shield as a prolongation of the beak much in the fashion of the coots. They are large
and handsome birds, the typical species of which (JZ violacea) is figured in the
accompanying cut. The turacous (Zuracus), so called in imitation of their ery, are
somewhat smaller, of a peculiar light green color, while the wing-feathers are of a
most beautiful carmine; a rounded, strongly compressed feather-crest adorns the
head. The most interesting fact in regard to these birds, is, perhaps, the nature of

FiG. 174. — Musophaga violacea, violaceous plantain-eater.

the coloring matter. As already mentioned in the introduction (page 5), the only
green pigment discovered in birds is that which has been called turacoyerdin, while
turacin, the magnificent red pigment of the wing, is equally peculiar to these birds.
This latter pigment is the more remarkable, since it is said to be washed out during
heavy showers of the rainy season, leaving the feathers pinky white, their former
beauty being resumed, however, in the course of two or three days. The best known
species is the white-crested turacou (7. corythaix) from South Africa, which, like its
congeners, frequents the highest trees, feeding on fruits. The colonists call them
lories. Another South African species is the gray turacou (Chizerhis concolor),
similar in form, but uniform gray all over. The following is an abstract of an inter-
esting account communicated to Mr. R. B. Sharpe by Dr. Exter: “In traveling
through the Betchuana country, one often comes upon a party of five or six of these

CUCKOOS. 373

birds, hiding from the mid-day heats under the sheltered portions of dense foliage near
the centre of a large tree. Whilst yet undisturbed, the crest lies flat on the head,
and can only be seen as a tuft projecting from the occiput. But their first act on
becoming aware of an intruder is to run along the branches, either to the summit of
the tree, or to the extremity of a branch commanding a good look-out, where, with
crest fully erected and well thrown forward, they keep up a constant reiteration of
their note. If but little alarmed, they move rapidly from branch to branch, frequently
jerking up the crest, and assuming an attitude of attention. Again, after flight from
one tree to another, on alighting, they first rest on a branch, with the body somewhat
horizontal and the tail drawn nearly to the perpendicular, as if assuring themselves of
their equilibrium, and then, raising the body, elongating their neck, and, at the same
time, elevating the crest, they seem to take an observation as to the security of their
new position. So much is this a habit of the bird, that, during the conversational
difficulties of my earlier intercourse with the Betchuanas, when inquiring for the nest
of Chizerhis (the native name of which is ‘Ma-quaai’), as soon as it dawned upon
the mind of a native what bird I meant, he has imitated its note, accompanied by a
sudden jerking up of the hand, with his fingers extended to the utmost, as if at the
same time to mimic the elevation of the crest. I was one day walking along a low
ridge of rocks, from which I flushed an owl that flew to some distance to a clump of
trees. Presently I heard an agonized scream, such as is made by a young antelope
when seized by a dog; and so exact a repetition of the sound was it that even my
dogs were deceived by it, and rushed off in the direction whence it came. I also sent
a Kafir boy, and presently followed myself, when I discovered it was the frightful
scream of Chizeerhis, of which a party were collected round the owl I had previously
disturbed, and whose presence appeared to be the exciting cause. At a later period I
had second opportunity of verifying this observation.”

Dumng the early part of the year 1885, Mr. F. E. Beddard, the successor of Garrod
and Forbes as prosector of the London Zoological Society, published an attempt
to classify the Cucutm», or cuckoos, on anatomical principles, relying solely upon
the presence or absence of the accessory femoro-caudal (B), the nature of the syrinx,
and the confirmation of the pteryle or feather tracts. He has brought out the con-
comitancy of some interesting characters and has succeeded in arranging the genera
investigated in groups corresponding to their geographical distribution. But it seems
as if the anatomical systematists are going to repeat the error of their predecessors,
the ‘skin ornithologists, in paying attention only to a single set of characters, as a
trifling or unessential feature is not worth more when anatomical or internal than
when external.

The investigations of Mr. Beddard show that the syrinx of the Cuculide appears
in three different forms, the bronchial, the tracheo-bronchial, and the pseudo-bronchial
syrinx.

While for the general description of the syrinx we refer to the introduction to this
volume (page 16), a short explanation of the above terms may find an appropriate
place here. In the tracheo-bronchial form, the syrinx is formed at the point where
the trachea bifurcates to form the two bronchi, in such a way that the last tracheal
rings and first bronchial rings partake in the formation, and the tympaniform membrane
reaches the bifurcation. Such a syrinx is represented in Fig. 175. The true bron-
chial syrinx is paired, and is located farther down, one on each bronchus; the trachea
is simply continued in two bronchi, the first rings of which are complete; at some

374 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

distance from the bifurcation they are replaced by semi-rings, the ends of which are
connected by the tympaniform membrane, which, therefore, is not continuous with
any of the tracheal rings. This condition in the cuckoos is similar to that of Steator-
nis, which is figured later on (page 385). The pseudo-bronchial syrinx, as we propose
to call it, is somewhat intermediate between the above two. At some distance down
the bronchi are the ends of the semi-rings, separated by a rather broad membrane, but
the rings between this and the actual bifurcation are not complete, and the narrow
space between their ends is filled by a strip of membrane, which connects the tympa-
num proper with the bifurcation, and
the lower tracheal rings which may
also be similarly incomplete, as shown
in Fig. 176.

The true bronchial syrinx is only
found in two peculiar American forms,
Crotophaga and Guira, which also
agree in many external characters, for
instance, in being the only cuckoos
with eight tail-feathers, all the rest

: having ten. These two are, therefore,
TY eae taney a an occa. fairly entitled to sub-family rank. On
ae the other hand, the muscular formula
AXY+3 is concomitant with a certain pattern of the inferior feather tract, as in the
cuckoos which have not the muscle B, the ventral tract of both sides is single and not
bifureate. The sub-family thus characterized comprises the true Cuculine, which
again falls in two groups, those of the New World with the inferior space reaching
quite to the symphysis of the mandible, an altogether peculiar arrangement, and the
Old World species in which it only reaches part up the neck. The pterylographic
peculiarities are contrasted in figures 177 and 178. However, on the whole, the clas-
sification of the ecuckoos is in an unsatisfactory condition, and we therefore proceed to
the more interesting forms without committing ourselves to any limitation of the
minor groups.

It is but natural to begin with the bird which is the cuckoo, from the sonorous
voice of which the whole family derives its name. The cuckoo (Cucwdus canorus), in
different local forms oceurring all over the Palsaretic region, and wandering far south
in winter, is astonishingly like, i in external appearance, some of the smaller hawks, not
only in color, but also in its manner of flight, a resemblance which in Europe caused
the superstition that the young cuckoo in the autumn turns into a hawk. The male
bird is well represented in the accompanying cut; the back is slaty blue, throat lighter
gray, rest of under side white with dusky cross-bars; feet cadmium yellow, and bill
dusky, with the corner of the mouth yellow, as is also the eye. Some Oriental cuckoos
belonging to the nearly allied genus /Zierococcyx carry the Accipitrine resemblance
still further, as the young birds have the dusky markings on the lower surface longi-
tudinal, as in many hawks and falcons, later on, like them, changing into a plumage
transversely barred. This similarity is not accidental, but evidently a case of protec-
tive mimicry, a supposition greatly strengthened by the fact that we know of some
small Malacean cuckoos (Penthoceryx), rusty brown above, and white beneath, barred
with dusky, which, in size, color, and general habits most closely ape the appearance of
certain diminutive shrikes inhabiting the same country. Still more remarkable, if

(CUAL

,
(\

CUCKOOS. 875

possible, is the mimicry of the Drongo-euckoo (Surniculus) of which more further on.
It is, probably, this similarity to a hawk which causes such commotion among the
smaller birds when they become aware of the cuckoo’s presence, rather than an in-
stinctive recognition of the cuckoo as the parasite which imposes the heavy burden
upon them of rearing and educating its gluttonous and ungrateful offspring. We
have here arrived at the very vexed questions relative to the reproduction of the
cuckoo, of which so much has been written and so little is known. We can certainly
do no better than give extracts of the summary which Mr. Seebohm published in
1884 in his excellent work on English birds and their eggs.

“The cause of this curious habit is very difficult to discover. It has been suggested
that the hereditary impulse to leave its breeding-grounds so early originally obliged
it to abandon the education of its young to strangers; but the same habit is found in
many species in India and Africa, which are resident and do not migrate. Others
have attributed it to the polygamous habits of the cuckoo, but the cuckoo is not

Fic. 177.— Pterylosis of Piaya cayana, ventral Fic. 178. — Pterylosis of Eudynamys orientalis,
surface. ventral surface.
polygamous, it is polyandrous. The males are much more numerous than the females.
The sexes do not pair, even for the season. It is said that each male has its own
feeding-crounds, and that each female visits in succession the half dozen males who
happen to reside in the neighborhood. A plausible explanation of the peculiar habits
of the cuckoo is to be found in the fact that its eggs are laid at intervals of several
days, and not, as is usual, on successive days. Very satisfactory evidence has been
collected that the cuckoo lays five eggs in a season, and that they are laid at intervals
of seven or eight days; but the American cuckoo and many of the owls very often
do the same. This power has probably been gradually acquired by the cuckoo, so as
to give the female time to find a suitable nest in which to deposit each egg. It is
possible that this singular habit of the cuckoo has arisen from its extraordinary
voracity. The sexual instincts of the male cuckoo appear to be entirely subordinate
to his greed for food. He jealously guards his feeding-grounds, and is prepared to
do battle with any other male that invades them, but he seems to be a stranger to
sexual jealousy. He is said to be so absorbed in his gluttony that he neglects the
females, who are obliged to wander in search of birds of the opposite sex, and appear

376 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

to have some difficulty in obtaining the fertilization of their ovaries. The extreme
voracity of the young bird is an additional reason why the care of the five nestlings
should be entrusted to as many pairs of birds.

“Tn its choice of a foster-parent for its offspring, it exercises more discrimination
than might be supposed from the long lists which haye been published of birds in
whose nests its eggs have been found. An insectivorous bird is generally chosen, and
preference is given to such as build open nests. Sometimes the cuckoo is unable to
find the nest of a suitable bird, and is obliged to deposit its egg in the nest of a
granivorous bird, such as the various species of finches, buntings, ete., and occasion-

FiG. 179. — Cuculus canorus, European cuckoo.

ally cuckoos’ eg

ges have been found in the nests of such totally unsuitable birds as
magpies, jays, shrikes, pigeons, and even the little grebe. The young euckoo is
usually much larger than its foster-brothers or sisters, and monopolizes the attention
of the parents to the exclusion of the other inhabitants of the nest, who die or are
eventually expelled by the young cuckoo. It has been said, on what appears to be
incontestable evidence, that the young cuckoo, soon after it is hatched, ejects the
young or eggs from the nest by hoisting them on its back; but one feels inclined to
class these narratives with the equally well-authenticated stories of ghosts and other
apparitions which abound.

“The eggs of the cuckoo are subject to great variation of color, and they very
frequently resemble closely the eggs amongst which they have been placed, so much

CUCKOOS. 317

so that cuckoos’ eggs are often supposed to be double-yolked eggs of the same species.
This fact has given rise to the extravagant theory that the cuckoo possesses the power
of determining the color of her eggs, so as to make them resemble the other eggs in
the nest. The explanation, probably, is that the eves of each individual cuckoo vary
very slightly. A cuckoo which lays blue eggs always lays blue eggs, and its descend-

>>

ants will continue to lay blue eggs; it was probably hatched in a nest containing blue
eggs, and will, to the best of its ability, intrust the care of its eggs to foster-parents of
the same species as those which tended it in its infancy.”

The cuckoo feeds on insects, especially caterpillars, being particularly fond of the
large hairy ones which most other birds despise, and the walls of the stomach are

FiG, 180.— Coceystes glandarius, great spotted cuckoo.

often found lined with the matted hairs of these larve. It is also fond of hairy
bumble-bees, but a most extraordinary diet for a cuckoo is certainly the small crusta-
ceans (Gammaride) which abound on sandy beaches; still, the present writer was
fortunate enough, during a short stay on Copper Island, near Kamtschatka, to shoot
a cuckoo which had the stomach crammed with these animals. In justice to the bird,
it must be stated, however, that the island had neither hairy caterpillars nor bumble-
bees to offer.

Another European species, the great spotted cuckoo (Coceystes glandarius), of
which we also present a cut, is confined to the northern and eastern parts. Its
breeding habits are likewise parasitic, though somewhat different, as it usually deposits

378 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

more than one egg, even as many as four, in a foreign nest, and that it usually selects
the nest of some member of the crow family.

Our next figure represents one of the small golden euckoos peculiar to the African,
Oriental, and Australian regions. The species are not larger than a sparrow, and
remarkable for the metallic green reflections on the back, and in some species the
neck anteriorly also, in richness and brillianey equalling the radiant hues of humming-
birds and trogons. The species figured is the South African golden cuckoo (Lampro-
coccyx cupreus), by the colonists called ‘didric, in imitation of its voice. It is
migratory in the Cape Colony and adjacent countries, and is said to be parasitic in its
breeding habits, like most other Old World Cuculins.

AS —

/

FiG, 181. — Lamprococeyxr cupreus, golden cuckoo.

The gigantic Australian species and type of a separate genus, the channel-bill, or
horn-bill cuckoo of the colonists (Scythrops nove-hollandia) is another form figured.
The character of the bill and its whole structure is well represented in the cut; the
coloration is similar to that of the European cuckoo, but the orbits and lores are bare
and scarlet red. In flight, and in the posture when resting, it is said to be quite
hawk-like, and is probably parasitic. Mr. G. Bennett tells of a young bird which was
taken alive and placed in an aviary with a ‘laughing-jackass’ (Dacelo gigantea):
“Doubtless feeling hungry after its journey, it immediately opened its mouth to be
fed; and its wants were readily attended to by the Dacelo, who, with great kindness,
took a piece of meat, and after sufficiently preparing it by beating it about until it

CUCKOOS. 379

was in a tender and pappy state, placed it carefully in the gaping mouth of the young
Scythrops ; this feeding process continued until the bird was capable of attending to
its own wants, which it now does, feeding in company with the Dacelo in the usual
manner.” ;

Structurally, the American members of the Cuculinz differ but slightly from their
Old World relatives. The former do not exhibit the peculiar parasitic breeding

FiG. 182. — Scythrops nove-hollandiw, channel-billed cuckoo.

habits, and are, on the contrary, credited with great affection for their mate and for
their offspring. Still, some individuals, at least, possess the peculiarity of the eggs
ripening only with long intervals, which in the European species is thought to have
caused its breeding vagaries. Dr. T. M. Brewer, in speaking of our common yellow-
billed cuckoo, remarks as follows : —

“No writer besides Mr. Audubon makes any mention of, or appears to have been
aware of, the peculiar habits of these birds in hatching out their successive depositions
of eggs, one by one. In this respect they are eccentric, and do not always exhibit

380 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

this trait. While I have repeatedly observed facts exactly corresponding with those
noticed by Mr. Audubon in the garden of Mr. Rhett, at other times I have found in
the opening of the season three or four eggs laid before incubation commenced, and
all hatched before others were deposited. ‘Then the parents seemed to depend in no
small degree upon the warmth of the bodies of the older offspring to compensate to
the younger for their own neglect, as well as for the exposed and insufficient warmth
of the nest. I have repeatedly found in a nest three young and two eggs, one of the
latter nearly fresh, one with the embryo half developed, while of the young birds, one
would be just out of the shell, one half fledged, and one just ready to fly.”

FiG. 183. — Coceyzus americanus, yellow-billed cuckoo.

We have already mentioned that certain cuckoos closely mimic other birds in their
appearance. A most extraordinary case is that of the Indian so-called drongo-
cuckoo (Surniculus dicruroides), which, as indicated by the names, so exactly imitates
the king-crow, or drongo-shrike (Dierurus), inhabiting the same locality, in size, form,
and color, that there is required considerable attention in order not to confound
them, though the arrangement of the toes, of course, at a closer inspection is alone
sufficient to separate them. This imitation is the more strange since it has even
extended to the curiously fureated tail, a feature elsewhere entirely unexampled among
the cuckoos. “ Does this cuckoo,” asks Dr. Jerdon, “select the nest of the drongo in

, CUCKOOS. 881

which to deposit her eggs? If so, the foster-parents would hardly be undeceived even
when the bird has arrived at maturity. One day, in Upper Burmah, I saw a king-
crow pursuing what at first I believed to be another of his own species; but a peculiar
call that the pursued bird was uttering, and some white in its plumage, which I observed
as it passed close to me, led me to suppose that it was a drongo-cuckoo, which had, per-
haps, been detected (this being the breeding season) about the nest of the Dierurus.
Mr. Blyth relates that he obtained a pure white egg in the same nest with four eggs of
D. macrocercus, and which, he remarks, may have been that of the drongo-cuckoo.”

The tropical regions of the Old World abound in several large, long-tailed, rather
high-legged cuckoos, with strong bills, some of which remind us of those of the
smaller toucans. They have a muscular formula of ABXY-+, and are generally
called ground-cuckoos, on account of their habits. Several are said to mimic pheas-
ants in appearance and gait, a similarity which is increased by the large red, naked
skin surrounding the eyes of many species, peculiarities which find expression in
several of the popular names, as, for instance, crow-pheasant for the common coucal
(Centropus rufipennis). This latter belongs to a group which is characterized by the
straight and lengthened claw of the first toe, resembling much that of a lark, whence
they have been called ‘lark-heel cuckoos.’

The spécies constituting the genus Lepidogrammus, residing in the Philippine
Islands, is remarkable, above all the others, for its rounded crest and the black,
horny appendages to the feathers of the head and throat.

Not very distantly related to the Indo-African ground-cuckoos are those of our
hemisphere represented by the curious ‘ road-runner’ (Geococcyx californianus).
From the accompanying illustration it will be seen that this form also has the skin
surrounding the eye,.and a large space behind it, denuded of feathers. Dr. R. Shu-
feldt has recently described the color of these naked parts as follows: “In life, the
eye of Geococcyx is entirely surrounded by a naked area of skin, which both above and
anteriorly is colored a deep Prussian-blue tint. Beneath the eye this gradually passes
into a pale bluish white, — almost quite white in some lights. The naked space behind.
the eye is the most extensive of all. Posteriorly this merges into the orange of the
parietal skin-tract, while anteriorly it blends with the other color just mentioned.”
The parietal spaces are described as being “of a deep, though very bright, orange
color.” We remark, however, that in the colored drawing accompanying the descrip-
tion the spaces mentioned are pure scarlet. The species in question inhabits
California, southern Texas, New Mexico, ete., and northern parts of Mexico, in the
southern parts of which it is replaced by a nearly allied species, G. affin’s. The habits
are described by Col. A. I. Grayson, as follows : —

“This remarkable bird, which the Mexicans eall ‘churea, or correa del camino’
(road-runner), — so called from the habit it sometimes has of running along a path or
road, —seldom fails to attract the attention of the traveler by its solitary and peculiar
habits, and often, too, in the mountainous regions and desert countries, where no other
living creature is to be seen. Although met with in such localities, it is, however, not
entirely confined’ to them, as it is an equal habitant of some portions of the thinly
wooded parts of the tierra caliente of the west, where the trees are scrubby and the
country open, as the barren and rocky great central plains of Mexico. It seems to
prefer a hilly country, but scantily supplied with vegetation, where the numerous spe-
cies of cacti form impenetrable thorn thickets. Here the road-runner wanders in soli-
tude, subsisting upon grasshoppers, mice, lizards, ete.

382 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

“Tt is most usually met with upon open ground, and, as soon as it discovers the
presence of danger, or the intruder, instantly runs off, with remarkable fleetness, to
the nearest thicket or hill, where it generally escapes from its pursuers, either by con-
cealment, or a short flight from one hill to another. If a tree with low branches be
convenient it will spring into that, and, soon reaching the top, will fly off to the dis-
tance of an hundred yards or more.- It appears to rise from the level ground with
much difficulty. It is very quick in its motions, active, and vigilant ; indeed, its fleet-

FiG. 184. — Geococcyx californianus, road-runner, chapparal cock.

ness enables it to elude its pursuers, although one may be mounted on a good horse,
or a dog may be in the train; but this is only for a short distance, as it could soon be
run down by the horse or dog were not some convenient thicket or hill near, from
which to take its flight from the latter, or conceal itself among the branches of the
former.”

Capt. Charles Bendire, in 1872, collected some twenty nests of the ‘chapparal
cock,’ as the road-runner is often called, “the first nest on April 8, the last on Sep-
tember 10. During the month of April, in which I found several nests, not one con-

ANIS. 383

tained more than three eggs, although I allowed incubation to begin before taking the
eggs, as I expected the birds to lay more. Nearly every nest I ft yund after the middle
of May contained four or five eggs; and I account for the greater number laid later in
the season by the fact that insect food during the dry season, which includes April and
May, is comparatively scarce. Only occasionally have I found eggs in different stages
of incubation, and I do not believe that there was over a week’s difference in the time
of laying of the eggs in any nests I found. The food of this species consists chiefly of
insects, particularly grasshoppers, but embraces occasionally a lizard or a field mouse.
I do not believe they kill and eat rattlesnakes, as has been sometimes reported.”

FIG. 185. — Crotophaga ani, smooth-billed ani.

Finally, we have to mention the small American family comprising the two genera
Guira and Crotophaga, characterized by having only eight tail-feathers, coincident
with a true bronchial syrinx.

Three species compose the latter genus, two of which belong to the North Ameri-
can fauna, as occasional visitors to the southern parts, the smooth-billed ani (C. ant)
to southern Florida, the groove-billed ani (C. sudcirostris) to the valley of the Rio
Grande, Texas. Both species are black, with steel blue reflections above, but distin-
guished by the characters of the bill, as indicated by the names.

We have on a previous page related the vagaries of the Old World cuckoos in
depositing their eggs in other birds’ nests. The breeding habits of the anis, however,
are very different, but not less remarkable or aberrant. Unfortunately, no recent
author has had the opportunity of studying the process to such an extent as to fur-

384 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

nish us with unquestionable proof of all the details; but, taking all the evidence into
consideration, and weighing it carefully, the following seems to be in accordance with
facts: The smooth-billed ani, which inhabits the West Indies, often builds its own
separate nest, and rears its young separately. But as often, or perbaps oftener, several
females unite to build but one nest. In this they all deposit their eggs, which they
incubate in common, rearing the young ones together when hatched. Often as many
as twenty eggs — blue, with a white chalky covering — are found in one nest, which
is said to be a rude collection of twigs and sticks, lined with leaves, large and deep.
In many instances the eggs are found in regular layers, with leaves and grass-straw
between, and it has been assumed that it was caused by the females covering the eggs
while leaving the nest, to preserve them at an equal temperature. It may be, how-
ever, that subsequent females continue building the nest after the first ones have
deposited the eggs, though it must be conceded that we know nothing definitely at
present, and that the breeding habits of the anis is a very promising field for future
researches. De Saussure asserts that the anis “breed together in company as well in
Mexico as in the Antilles,” referring to the groove-billed species, and, according to
Azara, the South American species, C. major, has a similar habit, at least in Para-
guay. It is very suggestive in regard to the relationship of the piririgua (@uira
guira), that the last mentioned author attributes to it the same communistic breeding
habits, and that its eggs are covered with a chalky layer similar to that of the ani’s
eggs.

To those only superficially acquainted with the external habits of the birds com-
posing the super-family CORACIOIDE. A, viz., the oil-bird, the podargus, the true goat-
suckers, the rollers, and the kirumbo, the statement will be received with some surprise
that there has been less doubt in regard to the affinity of the last-named three types,
than to whether the first two really belong here. Regarding these, however, the
doubt is so great, indeed, that some recent systematists not only make the oil-bird a
separate order by itself, but place the podargi and goat-suckers in two different orders.
This is chiefly the result of regarding one single character as indicative of relation-
ship. In this case it is the palatal arrangement and the form of the palatine bones
which have resulted in the separation of these forms, but it would almost seem as if
these characters haye comparatively little value in the present order, since we may
tind a desmognathous and schizognathous arrangement within the same group of birds,
the intimate relationship of which cannot be doubted in the least. The different
palates are illustrated by the accompanying cuts of the arrangement in the oil-bird,
the podargus, and the goat-sucker. In the first-mentioned type (Fig. 186A), the
vomer is pointed anteriorly and blended with palatines; the maxillo-palatines are

united, and the skull, consequently, desmognathous; the palatines also meet across the —

median line, presenting a very peculiar feature, each being folded upon itself behind
the junction, and lateral posterior processes are absent; basipterygoid facets are
present. The podargi have a very different palate (Fig. 186C), the palatines being
very broad with large lateral posterior processes and only rudiments of basipterygoid
facets. Finally, the goat-suckers proper (Fig. 186B) are distinguished by a palatinal
arrangement nearly typical passerine, consequently schizognathous, with the vomer
truncated anteriorly, but the slender palatines are enormously expanded behind, and
small basipterygoid processes are present. Parker calls them ‘ incessorial schizognaths.’

Notwithstanding these important differences in the basis of the skull, we regard
these three types as related. Indeed, were it not for the palate we should not think

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OIL-BIRD. 385

of placing the podargi in a family separate from that of the goat-suckers, since with
that exception they are very closely approached by the South American Nyctibius,
which has the palate of a goat-sucker, but in other peculiarities in common with the
former, and to be mentioned farther on, disagree with the latter.

The peculiarities of the pterylosis of the present super-family have been indicated
and illustrated on a previous page (page 370, fig. 173); hence we only remark that the
first three families have only ten tail-feathers, while the last two possess twelve.

B

FiG. 186. — A, Palate of oil-bird (Steatornis); B, Palate of goat-sucker (Caprimulgus) ; C, Palate of Podargus ;
mxp, maxillo-palatines ; pl, palatines ; pt, pterygoids ; vo, vomer.

As already intimated, the STEATORNITHID, which consists only of a single species,
the remarkable oil-bird, is possessed of a certain number of structural features which seem
to connect this bird with the owls, on one hand, though, on the other, many are so pecu-
liar as to make it somewhat doubtful if Professor Garrod was
not right in claiming for it a more independent position. The
sternum has only two notches behind ; the femoro-caudal is
absent; the second pectoral muscle is small; the syrinx is
truly bronchial, as depicted in the accompanying figure ;
the oil gland is very large; and the contour feathers are de-
prived of an after-shaft. Their bill is also entirely different
from that of the other caprimulgoid birds, being much stronger,
more owl-like, and with a narrower gape. The color of the
plumage, a sombre brownish, dotted with white, and blended
with dusky markings, reminds one equally of the goat-suckers
and the owls, indicating a bird of nocturnal habits. Alto-
gether it is a bird of a most singular aspect.

The oil-bird (Steatornis steatorn is), also called by its
South American name Guacharo, was originally discovered Fic. 1s7.— Syrinx of Steator.
in 1799 by the celebrated Alexander Humboldt in the caverns is
near the mission of Caripé (hence it is often called |S. caripensis), Venezuela. Since
then it has been found in several localities in northern South America, lately also in
certain districts of Peru, and for some time it has been known to occur in the Island of

Trinidad, the fauna of which strictly resembles that of the adjacent mainland, but not
VOL. IV. —25

?

386 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

in any of the West Indian islands proper. Mr. W. I. Hornaday, chief taxidermist of
the National Museum visited some of the Trinidad caves a few years ago, and has
kindly allowed me to make the following abstracts from an unpublished manuscript of
his : —

“ At the extreme northwestern point of the Island of Trinidad, and directly opposite
the extreme northeastern point of the mainland of South America, there lies a group
of small islands. The north shore of each of these is a smooth perpendicular wall of
rock rising out of deep water to a height of a hundred feet or more. The caves
which shelter the guacharo birds are in these cliffs, with their entrance opening only
on the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. When the sea is at all rough, an entrance
to any of the caves is utterly impossible, and even in the calmest weather it is neces-
sary to exercise a due amount of caution.

“ We set off early one morning when the sea was calmest, pulled westward along
the south shore of Monos Island, then out through the Huevos passage into the open
sea. Half an hour’s pull along the precipitous side of Huevos Island brought us to a
tiny bay hemmed in by the same high wall of rock. A turn to the left around some
half-sunken rocks and we were at the entrance of the cave, a black, semicircular hole
at the base of the cliff, six feet high and twelve wide, into which the swells of the
sea dashed every moment.

“The oarsmen held the boat carefully in position until a big wave came rolling in,
when they sent the boat flying forward on its crest. We passed safely over the
sunken rocks, and the next roller, which lifted the boat so high that we had to crouch
down in order that our heads might escape the roof of the tunnel, brought us to terra ~
firma. Scrambling out upon the pebbly beach we found rising before us a huge dome
like cave. The moment we entered there arose a perfect storm of rasping cries
coming from the throats of about two hundred guacharo birds that cireled about the
top of the cave.

“The walls of the cave were smooth bare rock, but at one side a huge mass of
fallen rock formed a series of ledges from the floor up to a height of thirty feet.
Climbing upon this we found numerous nests of the guacharos. The rocks were coy-
ered with guano to a depth of several inches. Whenever a smooth spot offered a safe
resting place the nests were placed like so many cheeses, while others were built half
swallow-like on the slopes.

“ As nearly as we could estimate there were about seventy or eighty nests, nearly
all of which we searched for eggs. In different nests we found the number to vary
from one up to four, so that we are unable to say what is the usual number laid.

“ Half an hour from the time we entered, the surf began to thunder so ominously
against the rocks outside, that our guide announced that we must quit the place with-
out delay, or run the risk of being penned up in the cave for an indefinite length of
time. Reluctantly enough we tumbled our specimens into the boat and pushed off.”

At the meeting of the Washington Biological Society, when Mr. Hornaday read
his paper he also exhibited one of the nests, very characteristically likened by him to
a cheese from seven to nine inches in diameter, and from three to six inches in height,
with the top slightly hollowed. It was formed of a brownish, spongy mass of consid-
erable solidity, which apparently consisted of the undigested seeds and skins of fruits,
ejected by the mouth, and mixed with the droppings of the birds.

This indicates that the guacharo feeds upon fruits, which, in fact, constitute its
only food. quite in contradistinction to the other caprimulgoid birds, which are exclu-

PODARGI. 387

sively insectivorous, an interesting analogy to the two groups of frugivorous and
insectivorous bats.

The name ‘ oil-bird’ is derived from the superabundance of fat in the young birds,
from which the natives prepare a colorless and inodorous oil, extensively used instead
of butter.

The characters of the Poparcaips, so far as they relate to the palatal structure,
have already been pointed out. There remain to be briefly mentioned a few other
peculiarities. Dr. Ph. L. Sclater has published the result of the anatomical examina-
tion of a Podargus, the most important of which are the total absence of the oil gland,
and the presence of a pair of large powder-down patches. The latter he describes thus
(Fig. 188): “Two large powder-down patches were discovered, placed on each side of
the rump. Each patch consists of about forty feathers, placed in a line extending
from above the outer end of
the root of the rectrices to-
wards the femur. Each feather
consists of a horny sheath, about
0.8 inch in length, of which 0.5
is external. At the termination
of the sheath the feather pre-
sents the usual decomposed ap-
pearance of powder-down patch-
es, being divided entirely into
numerous elongated minute fila-
ments of a dark gray color.”

The external aspect of the
members of this family is very
much like that of owls and goat-
suckers, but the bill is most
enormously widened, and the
size, especially that of the gi- FG. 188. — Powder-down patches of /odargus.
gantic podargi, is considerably
greater than that of the goat-suckers. Their habits, though quite nocturnal, differ
considerably from the latter, since their food seems to consist mostly of insects which
crawl along the bark of the trees.

The geographical distribution of the Podargide is limited to parts of the Oriental
and Australian regions, the podargi proper belonging to New Guinea and Australia,
while the frog-mouths (Batrachostomus) are confined to southern India, Burmah,
Malacca, and the Moluccan Islands. A species of the latter genus is figured in the
accompanying illustration, but their habits seem to be very little known. An inter-
esting feature is an apparent dichromatism analogous to that of many small owls,
some specimens presenting a gray, others a rufous, phase.

The Caprinvtcm, goat-suckers or night-jars proper, have a long second pectoral
muscle, a small oil gland, and after-shafts to the feathers. They are easily divided
into two sub-families: Nyctibiinw, which have the outer toe consisting of five pha-
langes, the normal number, a smooth middle claw, and four notches to the hind border
of the breastbone, while the Caprimulginew have only four phalanges in the outer
toe, the edge of the middle claw pectinated, and the sternum with two notches only.
Nyctibius agrees with the Podargide in most of the features in which it differs from

888 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the other goat-suckers, but the character of the palate seems to refer it to the latter.
It is a small group restricted to South*America and the Antilles, in aspect and habits
very similar to the other Caprimulgide. <A striking peculiarity is the tooth of the bill,
as depicted in the accompanying cut.

The Caprimulgine form a nearly cosmopolitan group of nocturnal birds, which,
like the owls, play a great rdle in the superstitions of all human races, whether white
or black, red or yellow. “The harmless, unoffending goat-sucker,” says Mr. Water-
ton, “from the time of Aristotle down to the present day, has been in disgrace with
man. Father has handed it down to son, and author to author, that this nocturnal
thief subsists by milking the flocks. Poor injured little bird of night, how sadly hast
thou suffered, and how foul a stain has inattention to facts put upon thy character!
Thou hast never robbed man of any part of his property, nor deprived the kid of a
drop of milk.

“When the moon shines bright you may have a fair opportunity of examining the
goat-sucker. You will see it close by the cows, goats, and sheep, jumping up every
now and then under their bellies. Approach a little nearer. See how the nocturnal
flies are tormenting the herd, and with what dexterity he springs wp and catches them
as fast as they alight on the bellies, legs, and udders of the animals. Were you to
dissect him and inspect his stomach, you would find no milk there. It is full of the
flies which have been annoying the herd.”

The same author, in speaking of the species inhabiting Demerara, and referring to
the largest, continues as follows: “Its cry is so remarkable that, having once heard
it, you will never forget it. When night reigns over these innumerable wilds, whilst
laying in your hammock, you will hear the goat-sucker lamenting like one in distress.
A stranger would never conceive it to be the ery of a bird; he would say it was the
departing voice of a midnight murdered victim, or the last wailing of Niobe for her
poor children before she was turned into stone. Suppose yourself in hopeless sorrow,
begin with a high, loud note, and pronounce ‘IIa, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!’ each note
lower and lower, till the last is scarcely heard, pausing a moment or two betwixt
every note, and you will have some idea of the moaning of the largest goat-sucker in
Demerara. Four other species of the goat-sucker articulate some words so distinctly
that they have received their names from the sentences they utter, and absolutely
bewilder the stranger on his arrival in these parts. The most common one sits down
close by your door, and flies and alights three or four yards before you as you walk
along the road, erying, ‘Who are you, who-who-who-are-you. Another bids you
‘Work away, work-work-work-away. A third cries mournfully, ‘Willy-come-go,
willy-willy-willy-come-go.’? And high up in the country, a fourth tells you to ‘ Whip-
poor-will, whip-whip-whip-poor-will” You will never persuade the negro to destroy
these birds, or get the Indian to let fly his arrows at them. They are birds of omen
and reverential dread. If the largest goat-sucker chance to cry near the white man’s
door, sorrow and grief will soon be inside, and they expect to see the master waste
away with a slow consuming sickness. If it be heard close to the negro’s or Indian’s
hut, from that night misfortune sits brooding over it, and they await the event in
terrible suspense.”

The goat-suckers are of a very uniform appearance, their coloration being a
blended mixture of brown, gray, black, buff, and white, and to others than the
specialist the characters by which they are separated into genera and species seem
trifling and unimportant. Few but the ornithologists will therefore care to hear all

GOAT-SUCKERS. 389

these minute details by which our whip-poor-will or the night-hawk may be distin-
guished from the more than hundred other forms in the different parts of the globe.
The tropics, however, have developed, even in this group, strangely ornamented
species, as, for instance, the object of the accompanying cut, the pennant-winged
night-jar (Cosmetornis vexillarius), and the nearly allied MWacrodipteryx longipennis,
in which the shaft of the elongated primary is denuded except at the extremity,
which is broadly webbed for a considerable distance. These singular night-jars
are confined to Africa, Hardly less curious are the South American lyre-tailed
goat-suckers (Macropsalis lyra and allies), with their enormously elongated outer tail-
feathers.

;
‘

K uit Ld }

Ge ANTI

ale LA

FiG. 189. — Cosmetornis vevillarius, pennant-winged night-jar.

The whole external habitus of the rollers, Coractap2, reminds one forcibly of
certain Passerine birds, with which they were, indeed, associated by earlier ornitholo-
gists; but their four-notched breastbone, with a pointed episternal apophysis, synpel-
mous arrangement of the plantar tendons, rudimentary basipterygoid processes,
desmognathous character of the maxillo-palatines, extreme attenuation of the vomer,
and fureation of the dorsal tract between the shoulder-blades, at once indicate their
position amongst the Picarie. We have already, on a previous page, indicated an
external character by which they may be easily distinguished from the foregoing
families, viz., the number of tail-feathers, which is twelve. Besides, their gaudy
colors prevent them from ever being confounded with any of the goat-suckers.

390 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The Coraciade are characteristic of the Ethiopian and Indian regions, though one
species, the common roller (Coracias garrula), is extensively distributed over the tem-
perate western portions of the Palearctic region, and a few species of the blue-colored
broad-bill rollers (wrystomus) enter parts of the Australian and Austro-Maylayan
regions. None of the rollers are found in the New World.

The island of Madagascar possesses three species of rollers, so different inter
se that they are regarded as types of different genera, and so different from all
other rollers that a separate sub-family has been established for their reception. The
Brachypteracianz, therefore, consist of three genera, Brachypteracias, Atelornis, and
Geobiastes, which are not found anywhere else than in Madagascar. They are charac-

FiG. 190. — Coracias garrula, roller.

terized by their long tarsus, and their nocturnal, ground-feeding habits, hence they
have been called ground-rollers. The Atelornis pittoides is gorgeously colored, very
much after the fashion of a Pitta, and, as remarked by Messrs. Roch and Newton, it is
singular that such a brightly colored species should be nocturnal in its habits. Struetur-
ally the ground-rollers show relationship to the next family, —the Leptosomatide.
The accompanying engravings illustrate the two representative genera of the rollers, the
European species, Coracias garrula, and the Indian, Hurystomus orientalis. A cut
san only do slight justice to the former’s beautiful colors. The general color is a light
bluish green, inclining to verditer, the mantle light cinnamon brown, the wings and
rump adorned with beautiful azure blue. The name ‘roller’ is derived from its pecu-

ROLLERS. 391

liar flight, which is varied and unsteady, and often the bird turns over in the air like
‘a tumbler pigeon.

The genus Hurystomus is remarkable for being represented in Africa by ruddi-
colored species, while blue is the predominating coloration of those living in India and
further east; but Mr. R. B. Sharpe remarks that from his study of the kingfishers
(Alcedinidz) he is led to consider that the possession of a blue color by one species
and of a ruddy tint by another does not indicate remote relationship. ‘ Change,” he

FiG. 191. — Lurystomus orientalis, broad-billed roller.

says, “the lilac tints into blue all over the body, and the African broad-billed rollers
assume the exact style of coloration as their eastern congeners.” The broad-billed
rollers, like the true rollers, are said to be fond of tumbling in the air.

Lieutenant H. R. Kelham makes the following remarks upon the habits of 2. ori-
entalis: “T hardly like to say that it is nocturnal in its habits, still it is rarely met
with during the heat of the day; but in the country round Keyala Kangsar, Perak, I
frequently saw it of an evening when on my way home after a day in the jungle; it

392 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

was usually perched on the upper branches of some tree, from which it made short
flights into the air in pursuit of insects. The first one I shot was only winged, and,
turning on its back, and uttering harsh screams, it fought most savagely with my dog.
It was a male; length eleven inches; irides dark brown; legs, feet, and beak, scarlet ;
plumage greenish blue; head almost black; wings very prettily marked with blue and
black, each having on it a spot of very pale blue; patch on throat rich violet; beak
short, strong, and hooked at tip; gape and eyes very large.”

The following family, the Lerrosomatip#, is not the least remarkable for the fact
that there is only one species living, inhabiting the wonderful Madagascar, while
another is known as fossil from the tertiary deposits in France. As may be expected,
this last survival stands alone among his more modern contemporaries, and many
are, indeed, its peculiarities, though the relationship to the rollers is
unmistakable ; in fact no other living birds come nearer to it, and
several authors refer it unhesitatingly to the Coraciade. There are
two external peculiarities which may be very well seen in the illustra-
tion herewith presented, viz., the position of the nostrils at the middle
of the beak, the curious development of the loral plumes into a con-
spicuous tuft, and the apparently yoke-toed feet. I say apparently
yoke-toed, since the fourth toe is not placed directly behind, as in
the cuckoos or wood-peckers, but laterally, rather more behind than
in front. This disposition of the toes induced the older systematists
to place the bird in question among the Cuculide, bat Dr. P. L. Sclater
has shown that it differs considerably from the latter, and approaches :
the rollers. Recent studies of its myology show that it really belongs Te Dantauen toe
here; the breastbone presents some peculiarities of its own. The palbeges t alge
pterylosis is remarkable. It possesses long after-shafts, and the dor- ay gan
sal tract bifureates between the shoulders, and there are two highly developed powder-
down patches, one on each side of the rump, as shown in the appended figure. There
seems, consequently to be characters enough to warrant its recognition as type of a
distinet family.

Our figure of Leptosomus discolor, or kirumbo, as it is called by some of the
natives of Madagascar, only represents the male, which is glossy green, with coppery
reflections on the back and crown, cinereous on sides of head, round the neck, and
below. The female, which by Reichenbach was made the type of a different genus,
and placed in a different part of the system, is barred and spotted with blackish and
rufous brown.

The French traveler, Alfred Grandidier, gives the following account of the habits
of the kirumbo. They “live in bands of ten or twelve individuals on the borders of
woods. As soon as one of these birds is knocked over with a shot, all the others
place themselves at a little distance off or hover round the hunter, so that sometimes
one may kill as many as ten in less than a quarter of an hour.” About the roller-like
tumbling in the air, Messrs. Roch and Newton made the following observations:
“Tt has a peculiar habit of playing in the air for some time over the same place,
ascending almost perpendicularly, as it were by a jump, to a great height, and descend-
ing again in a curve nearly to the top of the frees, by almost closing its wings, at the
same time uttering a whistle so like an eagle’s that it was for a long time doubted by
us whether the bird that performed this wonderful freak was not a raptorial. How-
ever, after having several times watched it with our glasses, we satisfied ourselves that

KIRUMBO. 393

it was this species. Whilst one bird was thus playing, another would frequently
answer its cry from a tree hard by.”

Only one family constitutes the super-family COLIOIDE, a rank which may
fairly be defended by Dr. Murie’s words: “If we take one set of regional charac-
ters, — the feet, the head, the breastbones, the pelvis, and so on,— we can place it in
as many different groups; we can even trace raptorial kin; so that it is hard to say
where Colius could not be wedged in, and plausibly too. Not only is it entitled to
be considered aberrant, but to afford the strongest proof of the interlinking of type, —
not in the chain series so often advocated, but, like the Isle of Man tripodal coat-of-
arms, kicking its legs about, and whichever alighting upon, there it stands. But if in

FiG. 193. — Leptosomus discolor, kirumbo.

true spirit of ornithology we take the bird in its completeness, it will be allowed it
does not so closely resemble any acknowledged individual group as to come under
its definition.”

As demonstrated by Professor Garrod, the palate is desmognathous (cf. the accom-
panying cut, Fig. 194), and the vomer is not ossified, and consequently lacking as a
bone, therein agreeing with Alcedo. There are no basipterygoid processes. As to
the breastbone, he asserts that it resembles that of the Megalaimidw more than any
other bird. The rostrum is indented, but not deeply cleft. In regard to internal
characters, his researches confirm the result of Dr. Murie, based upon osteological
grounds, that the Coliide are not to be referred to the Cuculoidew, as has usually
been done. They lack the ambiens muscle, and “in the arrangement of its plantar

394 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

tendons, Colius, although so peculiar and uncertain in the manner in which it employs
its toes, exactly resembles the feeble-footed Alcedinidw, and hardly differs from» the
Coraciadx, Meropidx, Bucerotide, and Caprimulgid. I could find no trace of intes-
tinal cca. Nitzsch has shown that the oil gland is tufted, and
that there are ten rectrices.’ Only the left carotid is present,
and the ‘syrinx is most nearly related to that of Ceryle among
the kingfishers. Professor Garrod sums up thus: “From what
has been said above, it is evident that Colius must be included
among the Piciformes, and near those of this division with a
left carotid only, a four-notched sternum, and a blended plantar-
tendon arrangement. No other piciform bird, however, com-
bines these characters. Consequently, the fact that the combi-
nation of characters is unique justifies us in retaining the Coliidw
in a separate family, related on one hand to the Picide, and on
the other to the Alcedinidw and Bucerotide.”

Very interesting is the construction of the foot, which is
pamprodactylous, that is, all toes turn forwards, even the first
one, though it seems as if the latter is reversatile. Dr. Murie
Fig. 194.— Palateof Colius; compares the foot “to a human hand strongly clawed, which,

bg bianco by a kind of griping or squeezing of the digits, securely fastens

to the slightest inequalities of surface.” It seems, however, as

if the colies are able also to direct the fourth toe more or less backwards, thus some-
times grasping thin twigs in a way similar to the yoke-toed birds.

Only one genus, Colins, requires recognition. It is strictly confined to the Ethi-
opian region, except Madagascar, and the southern and eastern portions seem to be »
the richest in species. There are not many known yet, for in the latest review of
this genus (July, 1885), Capt. G. E. Shelley only enumerates eight species, besides
three geographical races. He gives the following condensed account of their
habits : —

“The colies are all fruit-eaters, live in small bands, frequent thick bushes, and,
when disturbed, fly straight to some neighboring covert. Owing to their peculiar
structure, they place themselves in the most extraordinary attitudes when they rest or
scramble amongst the boughs, and they roost at night in thickly packed companies
for warmth, generally, if not always, with their feet above their heads. Their
nests are cup-shaped, and placed in thickish bushes at a few feet from the ground,
and some, if not all, of the species frequently add green leaves to the interior of
their nests during incubation. The eggs are rough, rather obtuse ovals, and generally
white. e

“There are now examples of three species of this genus living in the Zoological
Society’s Gardens [London]. They are admirably adapted for cage-birds, being
active, bold, and apparently hardy, and the quaintness of their attitudes is interesting
to watch.”

The species figured is C. macrourus, which inhabits northeastern, eastern, and
western Africa. Its bill is red at base, black at tip, in strong contrast, feet coral red.
The general color is gray, more isabella-colored underneath, and a patch of pure sky-
blue on the nape. The ‘ Muis-vogel’ of the boers in South Africa ( Colius colius) is
distinguished by having the lower and middle back black, with a broad white band
down the centre.

BEE-EATERS. 395

In order to show at once which families we intend to include in the super-family

ALCEDINOIDE the following table has been prepared : —

learotid; spinalspace. . . .. . . . . Meropide; nude eaer: ceca
sternal notches revelopad
Sternum muscular for- | open Todide ; tufted oil-gland E
4-notched - 2 mula A X Y sternal notches
2 carotids; no converted into
spinal space foramina Momotide ; aftershaft
muscular for- licedinid DO ICECHs
mula A X Alcedinide@ | 19 aftershaft

Sternum, at most, 2-notched .......+-.--- Bucerotide 3

We have already mentioned the synpelmous arrangement of the plantar tendons
in the present super-family, and it is interesting to remark that, while a similar arrange-
ment is found in some other groups, associated with bifureation of the spinal feather-

F1G. 195.— Colius macrourus, long-tailed coly.

tract between the shoulders, it is combined with a simple tract and a peculiar
conformation of the foot in the present division, as all the Alcedinoidew are syn
dactylous, that is, have the outer and middle toes firmly united, at least as far as the
second joint.

We shall treat of the families nearly in the sequence indicated by the above table,
consequently beginning with the Old World Merorm.~, or bee-eaters, the typical species
of which is figured in the accompanying cut. These are among the most brightly-
colored Picarians, and inhabit especially the Ethiopian and Oriental regions, sending
a few species northward to breed in the warmer portions of the Palearctic realm.
Their name is derived from the fact that their principal food is bees, wasps, and sim-

396 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

ilar insects, which are seized on the wing. In districts with a flourishing bee-culture
they become exceedingly injurious, and are therefore eagerly persecuted, the more so
since their flesh is palatable, and their gaudy plumage in high demand by both ciy-
ilized and savage belles for ornament. The bees are mostly swallowed whole, and it
is very remarkable that the birds do not seem to be hurt by the sting, the more so
since we know instances of many small birds having been killed by swallowing such
poisonous insects; and Naumann states that experiments with ducks had a similar
fatal end.

The breeding habits of the bee-eaters are peculiar. They nest usually in colonies,

Fic. 196. — Merops apiaster, bee-eater.

digging deep tunnels in steep, sandy river-banks. The tunnel, which is often nine to
ten feet long, opens into a breeding-chamber, where the bird deposits four or five white
eggs on the bare soil. According to Colonel Irby the beak is used for digging the
holes, and he asserts that the bills, after the boring, are sometimes worn away to less
than half their ordinary length. Of the common European bee-eater (Merops apiaster)
it is said that when, in winter, it goes to South Africa, it rears there another brood of
young ones; but Mr. Seebohm suggests that there exists a South African colony, the
breeding range of which is overlapped by the winter range of the northern colony.
Referring to the wood-cut for the form of a typical Werops, a fuller impression of
the beauty of these birds may be had by comparing it with the following description

MOTMOTS. 397

of the colors: Lower parts verdigris-blue,-and forehead pale whitish-blue; body aboye
chestnut, passing into rufous on the rump; a black stripe through the eye nearly
meets another which posteriorly borders the yellow throat.

The Meropine proper form a group of hardly more than thirty species. Myctiornis
and its allies, which have a more arched bill, and elongated plumes on the throat, like
the motmot, form a group of still fewer species. The latter differ also somewhat in
their habits, being less active, less sociable, and preferring the dense forests, while
Merops is very partial to the open country.

During the sway of the old theory that the peculiar birds of one hemisphere were
represented in the other hemisphere by corresponding forms, the Meropidwe were
regarded as represented in the New World by the motmots, or Momorip.2, —a family
which is as exclusively American as the bee-eaters are paleeogean. In this case the
theory worked tolerably well, for not only is there a certain external resemblance
between the two groups, but they are also evidently related, notwithstanding the fact
that the former have well-developed czeca, while the latter have lost them. It is difli-
cult to see why the same explanation which has been advanced in order to explain the
absence of feather-tufts to the oil gland of several Momotids, viz., that they were
lost after the ancestral stock had split up into two branches, — one with and another
without colic cxca,— should not apply just as well to the presence or absence of cxca
as compared with the synpelmous and syndactylous arrangement of the toes.

The Momotide, like the next family, have the edges of the bill serrated, which
has caused them to be united in a common group, called by some authors Serratiros-
tres. But this character is not exclusive, since there is a genus of kingfishers (Syma),
in which the tomia are likewise denticulated. In contradistinction to the Todide,
however, the tail is graduated and elon-
gated, the middle feathers especially so,
except in the small species composing the
genus J7ylomanes. The number of tail-
feathers varies in the different genera
between ten and twelve. The present
family is not rich in species, and the cen-
tre of its distribution seems to be Central
America. The predominant colors are
green and rusty, with bluish or beryl-
green ornamental plumes.

The habits of these birds have been
summed up as follows: “The birds are
solitary, or live in pairs, preferring the
shady recesses of the forest. They sit
motionless on a low branch, often in
nooks near rivulets, wherefrom they dart
on their prey. Swainson says they catch
their prey on the wing, but Kirk avers
that they alight to seize it. Ordinarily gp Py pe iB) of Tcaarnat and (0) af
their food is insects, reptiles, and fruits. Baifegrown, but yot partially denuied’ all balf nata-
In captivity a bold, mistrusting bird, the hag
motmot will then eat bread, raw meat, oranges, watermelons, small birds, mice,
lizards, snakes, cockroaches, etc. On pouncing on these latter, they afterwards strike

398 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

them violently against the
ground or perch. Songless,
their only ery is * houtoo.’
They breed in holes, and about
May lay three or four dusky
cream-colored eggs. Sexes un-
distinguishable ; and the young
scarcely differ, except in the
more downy texture of their
feathers. Primaries shed at
the first moult. The story has
found eredence that they nib-
ble off the occasionally absent
vanes of the long middle tail-
feathers; but this notion has
been contradicted.”

This sentence, which refers
to the racket-shaped tail-feath-
ers of certain species, as illus-
trated in its perfection by
the accompanying figure (Fig.
197.4), caused an article by
Mr. O. Salvin, in which he re-
produced a letter from Mr. A.
D. Bartlett in regard to a speci-
men of Momotus subrufescens,
which for several years lived in
the Zoological Society's Gar-
dens in London, to the effect
that he had seen the bird in
the act of picking off the webs
of the central feathers of its
tail, and had taken from the bot-
tom of the cage the fragments
of web that fell from the bird’s
bill. Mr. Salvin, in addition,
furnished drawings of tail-feath-
ers from skins in his collection
illustrating the gradual progress
of denudation, from the newly
grown feathers with continuous
webs to the finished racket.
So far as his material goes it

seems to corroborate the theory
of the bird voluntarily and pur-
posely trimming the feather
down. But it will hardly ex-

FiG. 198.— Momotus momota, motmot.

plain the case which is represented in Fig. 197C, taken from a specimen in the

TODIES. 399

U. S. National Museum. The shaded parts indicate the central tail-feathers, the
bases of which are still in the sheaths; they are only half grown, and have not yet
reached the end of the next pair; still they are perfectly racket-shaped, only that the
dises are larger than usual, so that it may be presumed that any future denudation would
take place from the nude stem down towards the end of the feather. This point is of
some importance, since we find that the denudation of the full grown feather upwards
never does proceed farther than the tips of the next pair. Fig. 197A represents a
feather which may help to solve the question. In feathers for some reason or other not
in prime condition, or part of which are destined by a regularly returning process to
fall off, we find by holding them up towards the light, fine transparent lines running
across the barbs like strings of minute holes. These so-called ‘hunger-marks’ indi-
cate where the barbs are going to break. In the figure, drawn from a specimen in the
National Museum in Washington, such a line is visible, and the tips of the outer
barbs have already broken off. It would not be particularly surprising if the bird
subsequently purposely removed the defective barbs, but I see no reason why it may
not be assumed, that these already broken barbs may not die entirely off at their in-
sertion, being removed by the serrated beak of the bird when preening its chief
ornament. This would account for Mr. Bartlett’s having seen the broken barbs fall-
ing from the bird’s bill. If this be the true solution, then there is no room for the
theory that the voluntary trimming through several generations has produced the
narrowness of the webs before the discs even in the untrimmed feathers. The species
figured (Momotus momota) has no disc-like expansion. It lives in tropical South
America, and is the oldest known of the group.

Garrod originally referred the Momotidz to the Passeriformes without tufts to the
oil gland and with ceca; but afterwards finding by actual dissection that caeca were
absent, and that some species had minute tufts, he removed them to the Piciformes.
As to the Topm of which he seems to have dissected none, he remarks, however,
that they almost certainly form a single family with the motmots, adding that he had
been able from a skin to determine that they are synpelmous in exactly the same
manner as the motmot. Forbes has since ascertained that colic ceeca are present, and
that simultaneously the oil-gland is strongly tufted. Osteologically Momotide and
Todide are nearly allied, though the latter have no vomer, and their manubrium sterni
shows tendency to bifurcation. Here are a few of Dr. Murie’s remarks: “It would
seem that where outward appearance has swayed, naturalists judged Zodus as having
alliance with the fly-catchers or the motmots; but where anatomical evidence has
been relied on, the kingfishers and bee-eaters are the groups with which it carried
family likeness. It results from my investigation, and a summing up of the labors of
others, that its nearest living allies undoubtedly are the motmots and kingfishers; but
it presents such aberrance that it ought not to be ranked amongst either, but in
proximity as a separate division — the Todidee — equivalent to the Momotide.”

The Todide consist only of a single genus of half a dozen forms, which are con-
fined to some of the West Indian Islands. The typical and oldest known species,
Todus todus (or T. viridis), figured in the accompanying cut, shows them to be small
(the figure is natural size), somewhat kingfisher-like birds, with syndactyle feet, long
and flattened beak with minute serrations along the edge, a short tail, and a plumage
which above is bright parrot green, below whitish tinged with faint greenish and
yellow, while the throat is of a brilliant poppy red. Mr. P. H. Gosse describes the
bill as above horny red, beneath pale crimson. The same author speaks of its habits

400 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

as follows: “In all parts of Jamaica that I have visited, the tody is a very common
bird. It will allow a person to approach very near, and, if disturbed, alight on another
twig a few yards distant. We have often captured specimens with the insect net,
and struck them down with a switch, and it is not uncommon for the little boys to
creep up behind one, and actually to clap the hand over it as it sits, and thus secure
it. It is a general favorite, and has received a favorite name, that of robin redbreast.
Commonly it is seen sitting patiently on a twig, with the head drawn in, the beak

FiG. 199. — Todus todus, green tody,

pointing upwards, the loose plumage puffed out, when it appears much larger than it
is. It certainly has an air of stupidity when thus seen. But this abstraction is more
apparent than real; if we watch it, we shall see that the odd-looking gray eyes are
glancing hither and thither, and that, ever and anon, the bird sallies out upon a short
feeble flight, snaps at something in the air, and returns to his twig to swallow it.”
The breeding habits of the todies are interesting inasmuch as they, like the bee-
eaters and kingfishers, dig holes in earth-banks of ravines and ditches. Dr. Gundlach,

KINGFISHERS. 401

in Cuba, saw a tody dig with its bill. Two weeks later he found the burrow finished.
It consisted of a horizontal tunnel about four inches long, ending in a nest-chamber
in which were deposited the pure white eggs.

Like all the other Picarian families, the kingfishers, or ALceprn1p, form a very
well circumscribed group, separated from all the others by gaps which future paleon-
tological discoveries may bridge. But now, since the internal structure of all these
forms has become better known, it has been possible, with some degree of certainty,
to decide upon the mutual relationships. It is interesting in this connection to
remark that various authors, looking from different points of view, some from
external others from internal characters, came to the same conclusion: viz., that
the kingfishers are most nearly allied to the hornbills, in spite of the enormous super-
ficial dissimilarity in structure, habits, and food. We shali return to this point later
in connection with the latter family.

When, in 1871, Mr. R. B. Sharpe finished his monograph of the present family, he
considered it to consist of one hundred and twenty-five species. Since then, various
new species have been described, and altogether we may estimate the number of spe-
cies to be about one hundred and fifty, concerning the geographical distribution of which
Dr. Wallace remarks as follows : —

“The kingfishers are distributed universally, but very unequally, over the globe, and
in this respect present some of the most curious anomalies to be found among birds.
They have their metropolis in the eastern half of the Malay Archipelago, from Celebes
to New Guinea, in which district no less than thirteen out of the nineteen genera
occur, eight of them being peculiar; and it is probable that in no other equally varied
group of universal distribution is so large a proportion of the generic forms confined
to so limited a district. From this centre, kingfishers decrease rapidly in every direc-
tion. In Australia itself there are only four genera with thirteen species; the whole
Oriental region has only six genera, one being peculiar; the Ethiopian also six
genera, but three peculiar; and each of these has less than half the number of spe-
cies possessed by the Australian region. The Palearctic region possesses only three
genera, all derived from the Oriental region; but the most extraordinary deficiency is
shown by the usually rich Neotropical region, which possesses but a single genus,
common to the larger part of the eastern hemisphere, and the same genus is alone
found in the Nearctic region, the only difference being that the former possesses eight,
while the latter has but a single species. These facts almost inevitably lead to the
conclusion that America long existed without kingfishers; and that in comparatively
recent times — perhaps during the miocene or pliocene period — a species of the Old
World genus, Ceryle, found its way into North America, and, spreading rapidly south-
ward along the great river-valleys, has become differentiated in South America into the
few closely allied forms that alone inhabit that vast country —the richest in the world
in fresh-water fish, and apparently the best fitted to sustain a varied and numerous
body of kingtishers.”

We have in our plate the representatives of the two sub-families into which the
kingfishers are divisible, viz., the common European kingfisher (Alcedo ispida), type
of the Alcedininz, characterized by the long scapular feathers forming a kind of
mantle covering the back, and the white-headed halcyon (Zaleyon semicerulea), one
of the Halcyonine, in which the scapulars are short. To this latter group, which
embraces the omnivorous and reptilivorous species, belong the giants of the family,
among others the giant kinghunter of Australia. The latter is now so popular a bird

VOL. Iv. — 26

402 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

that it deserves a more than passing notice, hence we reprint Mr. H. Wheelwright’s
graphic account of its habits: —

“ About an hour before sunrise the bushman is awakened by the most discordant
sounds, as if a troop of fiends were shouting, whooping and laughing around him in
one wild chorus. This is the morning song of the ‘laughing jackass, warning his
feathered mates that daybreak is at hand. At noon the same wild laugh is heard, and,
as the sun sinks into the west, it again rings through the forest. I shall never forget
the first night I slept in the open bush in this country. It was in the Black Forest.
I awoke about daybreak, after a confused sleep, and for some minutes I could not
remember where I was, such were the extraordinary sounds that greeted my ears; the
fiendish laugh of the ‘jackass,’ the clear, flute-like note of the magpie, the hoarse cacks
of the wattle-birds, the jargon of flocks of leather-heads, and the screaming of thou-
sands of parrots as they dashed through the forest, all joining chorus, formed one of
the most extraordinary concerts I have ever heard, and seemed at the moment to
have been got up for the purpose of welcoming the stranger to this land of wonders
on that eventful morning. I have heard it hundreds of times since, but never with
the same feelings that I listened to it then. The laughing jackass is the bushman’s
clock, and, being by no means shy, of a companionable nature, a constant attendant
about the bush-tent, and a destroyer of snakes, is regarded, like the robin at home, as
a sacred bird in the Australian forests. It is an uncouth-looking bird, a huge species
of land kingfisher, nearly the size of a crow, of a rich chestnut brown and dirty white
color; the wings slightly chequered with light blue, after the manner of the British jay;
the tail-feathers long, rather pointed, and barred with brown. It has the foot of a king-
fisher; a very formidable, long, pointed beak, and a large mouth; it has also a kind
of crest, which it erects when angry or frightened; and this gives it a very ferocious
appearance. It is a common bird in all the forests throughout the year; breeds in a
hole of a tree, and the eggs are white; generally seen in pairs, and by no means shy.

“Their principal food appears be to small reptiles, grubs, and caterpillars. As I
said before, it destroys snakes. I never but once saw them at this game. A pair of
‘jackasses’ had disabled a carpet-snake under an old gum-tree, and they sat on a dead
branch above it, every now and then darting down and pecking it, and by their antics
and chattering seemed to consider it a capital joke. I can’t say whether they ate the
snake. I fancy not; at least, the only reptiles I have ever found in their stomachs
have been small lizards.”

The racket-tailed kingfishers (Zanysiptera) belong to the same sub-family. They
are peculiar to New Guinea and surrounding islands, and are characterized by having
the middle tail-feathers lengthened and racket-shaped, like several of the motmots.
It is also to be noted that, like some of the latter, the species of Yanysiptera have
only ten tail-feathers, while nearly all the other kingfishers have twelve. Dr. Wallace,
in a letter to Mr. R. B. Sharpe, thus describes their habits: “These birds are all
inhabitants of dense thickets or forests, where there is soil free from dense vegetation,
from which they can pick up insects, small molluscs, or Crustacea. They rest on
branches three to five feet from the ground, and dart down on their prey, often with
such force as to stick their bill into the ground, as shown by its being often covered
with mud. They are said to nest in deserted white-ants’ nests, or in caves or holes in
banks. In Aru 7. Aylocharis was often brought me by the native boys alive. They
caught them before dawn roosting under ledges of the coralline rocks which border
the forest water-streams in those islands.”

KINGFISHERS. 403

The true Haleyons, on the other hand, have their chief development in the Ethi-
opian region. Mr. Jules Verreaux writes to Mr. Sharpe about them as follows:
“Wood kingfishers (Haleyones) generally feed on insects in mimosa trees and dry
forests; but when the supply is scanty, they turn their attention to lizards. Should
this food also fail, they will frequent the water, and fish like a true Alcedo. Some-
times they will hover, as if to inspect the water beneath them, remaining in the air
for some time, but not so long as a true kingfisher, and then returning to their perch
they will sit for hours, scarcely moving, till a passing fish is secured by an active
plunge. A curious fact, also, is that when they are in the bush there are generally
seven or eight in close proximity; but when they go to the water they keep separate,
each by itself. These kingfishers, when they frequent the water or the seashore,
eat Crustacea, or small shell-fish, which they hold between their feet, and, break-
ing the shell by repeated blows of their bill, throw the latter away and devour the
animal,”

We now come to the true kingfishers (Alcedinine), remarkable for their fish-eating
habits. Our American species belong to this group, and being in fact congeneric with
several Old World forms, present no peculiar features of their own. Many, or in
fact most of the Old World members of this family are remarkable for their gorgeous
coloration. It is especially the silky azure and bluish-green tints which causes the
admiration of all observers, and the common European species (A. ispida) forms no
exception to the rule, for above, the head, scapulars, and wing-coverts are dark green
with light greenish-blue lunules on the former, and similarly colored spots on the last-
mentioned part; the centre of the back is shining beryl-blue, and the short tail azure-
blue; the under side is deep cinnamon-colored, except the white throat.

A few abstracts from Mr. Seebohm’s latest work will give the reader an excellent
idea of the habits of the fish-eating kingfishers in general: “ Like most birds of bril-
liant plumage the kingfisher prefers a quiet and secluded haunt. It loves the little
trout streams, with wooded and precipitous banks, the still ponds and small lakes,
ornamental waters in parks, where it is not molested, and the sides of sluggish rivers,
drains, and mill-ponds. Here, in such a haunt, the bird often flits past like an indis-
tinct gleam of bluish light. Fortune may sometimes favor the observer, and the bird
may alight on some twig over the stream, its weight causing it to swing gently to and
fro. It eagerly scans the shoal of young trout sporting in the pool below, when sud-
denly it will drop down into the water, and, almost before the spectator is aware of
the fact, is back again to its perch with a struggling fish in its beak. A few blows on
the branch and its prey is ready for the dexterous movement of the bill, which places
it in a position for swallowing. Sometimes the captured fish is adroitly jerked into
the air, and caught as it falls. The kingfisher may often be seen to pause in its rapid
flight, and hover, like a pigmy kestrel, above the pool ere plunging down.

“The kingfisher lives principally on small fish; but it also eats various kinds of
insects, and their larvee. It also captures shrimps, and has been known to take small
crabs. All the indigestible portions of its food are cast up in pellets, most if not all
of them in the roosting or breeding place.

“ The kingfisher rears its young in a hole, which it generally makes for itself, or
less frequently adapts for its purpose one ready made. This hole is made in the banks
of the stream it frequents. The kingfisher, in spite of its brilliant dress, is a slatternly
bird. It may fairly be called an ‘ill-bird, since it fouls its own nest and its peerless
eggs. The kingfisher does not make any more nest than that which the ejected fish-

404 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

bones supply. The hole is bored rather slowly, and takes from one to two weeks to
complete,

“ Few birds are connected with more fables than the kingfisher. The superstition
that a dead kingfisher, when suspended by a thread, would turn its beak to that par-
ticular point of the compass from which the wind blew, is now fortunately as dead as
the kingfishers on whom the experiment was tried. The classical fable that the breed-
ing season of the kingfisher was in midwinter, when the sea remained calm and undis-
turbed by tempests, is equally as inexplicable, and as profoundly forgotten.” But still
we speak of ‘haleyon days’!

Our North American belted kingfisher ( Ceryle alcyon) is plainer colored, but much
larger and more powerful, so as to enable it to add a mouse now and then to its bill
of fare.

Before dismissing the kingfishers we must mention that a few Old World species,
belonging to two genera, — Ceyw and Aleyone, —are only three-toed, having lost the
inner (second) toe. Structurally these two genera are very closely allied, but their
habits are said to differ, Aleyone being a fish-eater, while the small multicolorous
Ceyx feeds on insects, and loves the dense forest.

We have already on a previous page hinted at the relationship of the Bucrrotipa,
or hornbills, to the kingfishers, promising a fuller explanation of this seemingly extra-
ordinary assertion. We may then at first remark, that there is now pretty universal
agreement among ornithologists that the hornbills require a position somewhat inter-
mediate between the kingfishers and the hoopoes,—having strong affinities to both, —
and that the old arrangements either among the crows, on account of their size and
blackish coloration, or next to the toucans on account of the enormous large, light,
and cellular bills, are entirely out of question as highly superficial and artificial.

Externally the hornbills and kingfishers agree nearly exactly in the shape of the
syndactylous foot, and Nitzsch, on pterylographical grounds, united them with Upupa
in one group, which he called Lipoglosse. They agree in having tufted oil glands,
and in lacking aftershafts and colic ceca. Hornbills and kingfishers, moreover, are
synpelmous, as shown before, and the deep plantar tendons of a hornbill has been
figured (Fig. 171B). As to the affinities to the hoopoes we may be allowed to quote
Dr. Murie: “Lastly, what in exterior appearance can be more opposed to each other
than such a great, unwieldly, horned bird as the rhinoceros hornbill and the graceful
hoopoe? Yet patient inquiry leads apace to trace the steps of graduation. Admit-
ting that exuberance of casque, and many other external characteristics of the above-
mentioned hornbill, can hardly be reconciled with the idea of family relationship to
the hoopoes and Irrisors, it cannot be gainsaid that the Bucerotide present extremes.
When Tockus is reached, size and outward peculiarities dwindle till we have a form
in which can be recognized semblance to certain of the Upupide. There is still a
gap; but the very manifold structural agreements and adaptations thereof to habits,
etc., are strong evidence of congruity.”

The gap between the two families may some day be filled, however, and a fossil
form, found in the tertiary deposits near Paris (Cryptornis antiquus), which Laurillard
has referred to the kingfishers, but which Milne-Edwards says is a hornbill, while
Murie points to certain conformations with the hoopoes, may not have been so very
distantly related to the common ancestor of the Lipoglosse.

As it is, the hornbills form a very sharply defined group with many peculiar fea-
tures of their own. First is to be noted the extraordinary size and cellular structure

HORNBILLS. 405

of the bill, with the variously shaped ‘horn’ or ‘casque’ at the base of the culmen,
though not present in all the species, in some of the small ones being only indicated
by a compressed ridge. The distribution of the feather tracts is peculiar, since in the
large species there is a tendency to obliterate the spaces altogether, but the feathers
are inserted very sparsely, and there are no down feathers on the trunk. The strong
hairy eyelashes are another peculiarity, and in having ten tail-feathers only, the horn-
bills disagree with most of the kingfishers. The skeleton is bulky, but the bones are
very light, being, as they are, permeated by air to an unusual degree. The sternum
is quite peculiar, being very broad behind with only two shallow incisions. A gall-
bladder is present.

The hornbills are not very numerous, but, as Mr. D. G. Elliot remarks, “As they
exist at the present day, they exhibit to us probably but a remnant of the great family
which once dwelt amid the forests of that mighty eastern continent, of which a large
portion is now beneath the waters. So, many gaps exist, not one only we may
presume; and the diversified forms that would supply the necessary links to com-
plete an unbroken chain of connected species throughout the family have long
since disappeared.” This same author, in 1882, when finishing his great mono-
graph of this family, recognized sixty species, the geographical range of which covers
parts of three of the zoé-geographical divisions of the globe, viz., the Ethiopian,
Oriental, and Australian regions, though in the latter confined to its Austro-Malayan
province.

Strange as is the aspect of the hornbills, their manners of life are not less peculiar,
and some are even completely unique. Dr. A. R. Wallace writes thus of their flight
and manner of feeding: “They have powerful wings; but their heavy bodies oblige
them to use much exertion in flight, which is therefore not very rapid, though often
extended to considerable distances. They are (in the Indian Archipelago at least)
entirely frugivorous; and it is curious to observe how their structure modifies their
mode of feeding. They are far too heavy to dart after the fruit, in the manner of the
trogons; they cannot even fly quickly from branch to branch, picking a fruit here and
there; neither have they strength nor agility enough to venture on the more slender
branches, with the pigeons and barbets; but they alight heavily on a branch of con-
siderable thickness, and then, looking cautiously round them, pick off any fruits that
may be within their reach, and jerk them down their throats by a motion similar to
that used by the toncans, and which has been erroneously described as throwing the
fruit up in the air before swallowing it. When they have gathered all within their
reach, they move sideways along the branch by short jumps, or rather, a kind of
shuffle, and the smaller species even hop across to other branches, when they again
gather what is within their reach. When in this way they have progressed as far as
the bough will safely carry them, they take a flight to another part of the tree, where
they pursue the same course. It thus happens that they soon exhaust all the fruit
within their reach, and long after they have left a tree the barbets and Lwrylaimt
find abundance of food on the slender branches and extreme twigs. We see there-
fore that their very short legs and syndactyle feet remove them completely from the
vicinity of the toucans, in which the legs are actively employed in moving about after
their food. Their wings, too, are as powerful as those of the toucans are weak; and
it is only the great weight of their bodies that prevents them from being capable of
rapid and extensive flight. As it is, their strength of wing is shown, too, by the
great force with which they beat the air, producing a sound, in the larger species,

406 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

which can be distinctly heard a mile off, and is even louder than that made by the
flight of the great Muscovy duck.”

A curious illustration of the latter fact is afforded by the report of the first visitors
to the southern part of New Guinea that they had met a gigantic bird measuring
twenty-five feet between the tips of the wings, or sixteen as others said, which made a
noise when flying off like a locomotive. Mr. d’Albertis solved the riddle and says: “I
have ascertained that it was a Buceros ruficollis, which makes a peculiar noise in flying.

Fic. 200. — Buceros bicornis, concave-casqued hornbill.

This sound, especially when several birds fly together, resembles the noise of a steam-
engine; and I succeeded in convincing two or three discoverers of the great bird,
who are now on board the ‘ Ellangowan,’ of the fact.”

The breeding habits of the hornbills are entirely unique among birds, and I feel,
when I tell the general reader of the male hornbill confining the sitting female during
incubation by closing the entrance to the nest hole with clay, only leaving space
enough for her bill to receive the food he brings, that I will have to produce the most

HORNBILLS. 407

trustworthy witnesses in order to be believed. Dr. Livingstone in his ‘ Missionary
Travels in South Africa’ relates his experience as follows: “ The first time I saw this
bird was at Kolobery, where I had gone to the forest for some timber. Standing by
a tree, a native looked behind me and exclaimed, ‘There is the nest of a korwe. I
saw a slit only about half an inch wide and three or four inches long, in a slight hollow
of atree. Thinking the word korwe denoted some small animal, I waited with interest
to see what he would extract. He broke the clay which surrounded the slit, put his
arm into the hole, and brought out a tockus, or red-beaked hornbill, which he killed
He informed me that when the female enters her nest she submits to a real confine-
ment. The male plasters up the entrance, leaving only a narrow slit by which to feed
his mate, and which exactly suits the form of his beak.”

Lieutenant-Colonel 5. R. Tickell gives the following extract of his notes written
down at the time and place of observation, which relates to the concave-casqued horn-
bill (Buceros bicornis), the ‘homrai’ of the Nepalese, represented in the accompany-
ing cut: — “On my way back to Moulmein from Moolegit (a celebrated peak in the
Tenasserim, range), when halting at Kyik, I heard by the merest chance from the
Karén villagers that a large hornbill was sitting on its nest in a tree close to the vil-
lage, and that for several years past the same pair of birds had resorted to that spot
for breeding. I lost no time, accordingly, in going to the place next morning, and
was shown a hole high up in the trunk of a moderately large straight tree, branchless
for about fifty feet from the ground, in which the female, I was told, lay concealed.
The hole was covered with a thick layer of mud, all but a small space, through which
she could thrust the end of her bill, and so receive food from the male.

“One of the villagers at length ascended with great labor, by means of bamboo-
pegs driven into the trunk, and commenced digging out the clay from the hole.
While so employed, the female kept uttering her rattling sonorous cries, and the male
remained perched on a neighboring tree, sometimes flying to and fro and coming close
to us. Of him the natives appeared to entertain great dread, saying he was sure to
assault them; and it was with some difficulty I prevented them from shooting him
before they continued their attack on the nest. When the hole was enlarged suffi-
ciently, the man who ascended thrust in his arm, but was so soundly bitten by the
female, whose cries had become perfectly desperate, that he quickly withdrew, nar-
rowly escaping a tumble from his frail footing. After wrapping his hand in some
folds of cloth, he succeeded with some trouble in extracting the bird, a miserable-
looking object enough, wasted and dirty. She was handed down and let loose on the
ground, where she hopped about, unable to fly, and menacing the bystanders with her
bill; and at length ascended a small tree, where she remained, being too stiff to use
her wings and join her mate. At the bottom of the hole, nearly three feet from the
orifice, was a solitary egg, resting upon mud, fragments of bark, and feathers.”

Not less interesting is the account of Mr. C. Horne in regard to the same species
as his observation indicates that it is the female herself that undertakes the plastering.
The nest was placed in a hole in a sissoo-tree on his lawn, opposite the veranda, so that
he could watch every thing through a glass: “ On the 29th of April the female went
into the hole, and did not again come out. From the time the female went in, the
male was most assiduous in feeding her, bringing generally the small peepul-fig. On
April 30th I observed the female working hard at closing the orifice with her own
ordure. This she must have brought up from the bottom of the hole; and she plas-
tered it right and left with the flat sides of her beak, as with a trowel. I never saw

408 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the male bring anything but food; and I never found any food which had been
rejected under the tree, and but very little ordure, which latter had apparently been
thrown out by the female when the closing-work was finished. The male bird would
alight near, then fly to the hole, holding on to the bark by his claws, and knock with
his beak. On this the points of that of the female appeared, and received the fruit,
when the male flew off. The hole was at first, perhaps, six inches in height, and three
or four wide. When closed up, the opening at the widest part was a little larger than
would admit the finger. It should, however, be borne in mind that the bill opened
upwards, and thus had three or four inches play. The plastering operation took two
or three days, after which the ordure was thrown out.”

We might continue with similar testimony from Wallace, Bernstein, and other
travelers, but want of space prevents us from quoting more, inasmuch as the above
will suffice to give an idea of one of the most extraordinary nesting habits we know
of. We do not wonder that the hornbills play a great role in the imagination of the
natives, and find it quite natural that the female hornbill is regarded by the Burmese
as a model of virtue.

The hornbills vary in size from that of a raven to that of a jay; and there is an
endless variation of the casque from a nearly obsolete ridge to the immense upturned
horn of the rhinoceros bird. A somewhat more aberrant form is Lhinoplax vigil,
which has a solid, not cellular, casque, bare neck, and elongated central tail-feathers.
It lives in the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo.

There seems to be good reasons for regarding the ground-hornbills, three African
species, one of which is illustrated in our cut, as constituting a special sub-family.
Their casque is hollow, and open in front in the species figured; the tarsi are long
and the tail comparatively short. There are also important internal differences from
the other hornbills, for, while these have a muscular formula of AXY, the ground
hornbills have only XY. The difference in the external structure of the feet and in
the myological formula is concomitant with a peculiarity in the movements of these
birds, as the tree-hornbills hop with both feet together, while the ground-hornbills
(Bucorvine) walk, placing one foot in front of the other. A unique anatomical
feature has been described by Mr. W. Ottley. Some of the tree-hornbills have two
carotids, others have one; but Bucorvus has no functional carotid at all. The
vessels are only represented by two imperforate fibrous chords, and their function
is performed by the greatly enlarged representatives of the comes nervi vagi.
Hence, the origin of the arteries for the supply of the head also differs from the
usual arrangement, a superior thyroid artery and a facial artery being both absent.
As might be expected, the habits of the ground-hornbills are different from those
of their tree-loving relatives. They move with ease over the ground, on which they
spend much of their time, feeding upon insects, reptiles, and occasionally small
mammals.

Few birds can better illustrate the necessity of taking into account all the char-
acters in determining the place in the system than those composing the present super-
family, the UPUPOIDE. If we only knew their skin, the posterior part of their
breastbone, their deep plantar tendons and carotids, we should most certainly refer the
hoopoes to the Passeres; but since, also, all the other points of their external and
internal anatomy are well known, there is no room for doubt but that they form an
isolated group belonging to the Picarian order, the nearest allies being probably the
hornbills, as already mentioned. Still, as they are yet classed with the larks or with

HOOPOES. 409

the creepers and sun-birds by most ornithologists of the old school, a short review
of the chief points in both directions may be in order.

The following characters are apparently passerine. The foot with its long hind
toe and the scutelli-plantar tarsus resembles more that of a bird of the next order
than one belonging to the present, the more so since the arrangement of the deep
plantar tendons is schizopelmous, or strictly passerine. The posterior margin of the
breast-bone is deeply two-notched, unlike most Picarians, though not unknown in this

Fic. 201. — Bucorvus abyssinicus, ground-hornbill.

order. There is but one carotid, a feature also common to several Picarians. On
the whole, the characters which seem to be passerine are in the general line of special-
ization, and do not with necessity indicate that the Passeres have sprung from an
Upupoid stem. In other words, it seems more probable to us that the hoopoes are
an extreme specialization of the Picarian type rather than a half-finished Passerine.
The chief Picarian features are the desmognathous palate, pointed manubrial pro-
cess of the breast-bone, bifurcation of dorsal tract between the shoulders, tufted oil
gland, absence of cxca, syringeal arrangement, besides a number of other characters,

410 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the enumeration of which would involve lengthy explanations, entirely out of place
here.

Thus defined the hoopoes form a very small group, since several forms which, on
the strength of some external resemblance were placed in their immediate neighbor-
hood, as for instance, Epimachus and Falculia, had to be left with the Passeres where
they truly belong. Formerly the hoopoe-like birds must have been more numerous,

Val

o~;
A & "
LANG'S)

WN

Fic. 202. — Upupa epops, hoopoe.

for A. Milne-Edwards has discovered in the tertiary deposits of France remains of
several forms, some of which have been referred to Upupa proper, while others, as
Limnatornis paludicola and Laurillardia longirostris, are considered as not distantly
related.

The present super-family, which is peculiar to the Old World, may be divided in
two groups, to be given family rank. In order to be brief we only indicate that the

HOOPOES. 411

hoopoes proper have a peculiar erectile crest on the head, a square short tail; that
they possess no metallic colors, and that the sternal notches are open; their habits are
terrestrial. The wood-hoopoes, as the name indicates, are arboreal, have no crest, a
blackish glossy plumage of metallic reflections, and a very long graduated tail; the
notches of the breastbone are closed behind so as to form foramina.

The former of these sub-divisions, the Upupip#, is composed of about six species
belonging to the genus Upupa, the typical species of which is figured in the accompa-
nying wood-cut, which gives a good idea of this striking looking bird; and we have
only to imagine the highly-shaded portions of the upper half of the bird, including the

Fic. 203. — Jrrisor erythrorhynchos, wood-hoopoe.

crest, colored with a rusty buff color, which is paler and somewhat pinkish on the
breast, in order to have a picture which will prevent us from ever mistaking a hoopoe,
whether met with in nature or in the museum. The hoopoes are confined to the
warmer portions of the Old World: but the species firured, U. epops, is also found
in the southern parts of the Palearctic region, including Europe. It is a bird of ter-
restrial habits, feeding on worms and insects, which it extracts from their holes in the
earth by means of its long pliable, somewhat snipe-like bill. That such a striking bird
has not escaped the fate of playing a great réle in all sorts of superstition is quite
natural, the more so since its voice, from which are derived its different names, is

412 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

very remarkable. Mr. Robert Swinhoe has described well the peculiar way in which
the hoopoe produces its notes by pufling out the sides of the neck and hammering on
the ground at the production of each note, thereby exhausting the air at the end of
the series of three, which make up its song. “ Before it repeats its call,” he continues,
“it repeats the puffing of the neck, with a slight gurgling noise. When it is able to
strike its bill the sound is the correct ‘hoo-hoo-hoo;’ but when perched on a rope
and only jerking out the song with nods of the head, the notes more resemble the syl-
lables ‘hoh-hoh-hoh.’ Mr. Darwin makes use of this last fact to show that some
birds have instrumental means to produce their music.”

Like the true hoopoes, the wood-hoopoes, Irrisortp£, are accused of emitting a
powerful and offensive smell. They are inhabitants of the forests, where they climb
on the trunks of trees much in the manner of woodpeckers. They are described as
very noisy and restless birds. The wood-hoopoes are restricted to the tropical and
southern parts of the African Continent. The species here figured, Jrrisor erythro-
rhynchos, has coral-red feet and bill.

The three words, homalogonatous, antiopelmous, zygodactylous, at once and trench-
antly distinguish the PICOIDEA® from all the other Picarians; and we cannot help
thinking that this super-family is an eminently natural one notwithstanding the many
yet unfilled gaps between the separate families composing it. These may be tabulated

synoptically as follows : —

Bucconide; gonys rounded ; ventral
tract without gular
branch.

Galbulide; — gonys angular; ventral
tract with an inner

Oil gland nude ; ceca developed ; two carotids

gular branch.

vomer truncate Ramphastide
Oil gland | Dot saurognathous; manu- § 10 rectrices.

: brial rostrum pointed imi
tufted ; : I / BO er Bi Sh reate { Megalaimide
no ceca; Indicatoride | 45 A
1 carotid ; : Me 12 rectrices.
saurognathous; manubrial rostrum bifureate Picide

It will be seen that the super-family is divisible in two groups: one with nude oil
gland and well developed cea, the other with no cea, but a tufted oil gland; hence
Garrod referred the former to his order Passeriformes, the latter being his’ typical
Piciformes.

He seems to have been in some doubt, however, concerning the Bucconipa, as to
whether they possess ceca or not, having had no specimen of this family for dissec-
tion; but I find that Professor Burmeister has noted two long cxea in this family, thus
confirming Garrod’s supposition. This family has been almost inextricably confused
by older authors with the Megulaimidi, from which they are distinguished by many
important characters besides those mentioned in the table above. One of these
deserves to be treated of a little more in detail since, though being an external one, it
is usually overlooked. It deserves our attention the more, as it is a character, the
development of which can be traced from the young to the adult plumage, thus afford-
ing us a means of telling which condition is generalized and which one specialized.

Professor Sundevall was the first author to draw attention to the difference of the
upper wing-coverts in Passeres and some Picarians as compared with the rest of the
birds, showing not only that the large secondary coverts in the former are shorter,
not covering more than the basal half of the secondaries, while in the latter more
than the half is concealed by them, but also that in the former the small coverts are

PUFF-BIRDS. 413

much less numerous, forming fewer series than in the latter. He furthermore demon-
strated the ‘perverse’ situation of the middle coverts in the Passeres. But even
more interesting is his observation that the young birds in the first plumage show
more or less trace of the more common arrangement, thus enabling us to decide that
the latter is the generalized stage, while the ‘ oscinine ’ arrangement is a specialization
of it. The oscinine or non-oscinine arrangement of the wing-coverts, therefore, can-
not be expected to be always trenchently differentiated, and intermediate forms may
oceur, which he has termed sub-oscinine, and in fact our present superfamily presents
all three stages. The Bucconid have non-oscinine wing-coyerts, these being larger

Fic. 204. — Lyporniz torquata, double-banded puff-bird.

and numerous ; in the Galbulide they are smaller and fewer, but not so much reduced
as in the Oscines, consequently sub-oscinine ; while in Ramphastide, Megalaimide, etc.,
they are quite oscinine in size and number.

The Bucconide, or puff-birds, as they are called from their loose and puffy
plumage, are also otherwise distinguishable from the Megalaimide, or barbets, by
having twelve tail-feathers, while the latter have only ten, and by their dull and
sombre coloration, as compared with the many and gaudy colors of the barbets.
Some of the puff-birds (the genus Monasa) are nearly uniform blackish slate, while
others are of a mottled rusty and dusky, with whitish markings, as, for instance, in the
species here illustrated, the double-banded puff-bird (Zyporniz torquata). They are
small birds, the largest species hardly so large as a robin, with a rather short, conical

414 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

and slightly arched bill, which in several species has the end of the upper mandible
decidedly hooked. Their food consists of insects, and travelers describe them as dull
and stupid birds which inhabit the densest forests. They are said to deposit two white
eggs in a deep hole dug into the sandy bank of a ravine or ariver. There are known
about half a hundred species of puff-birds, which exclusively inhabit tropical America
as far north as Guatemala.

Closely allied to the foregoing family are the jacamars, GaLBuLID#, of similar
geographical distribution, though entirely confined to the regions east of the Andes.
A very characteristic and entirely unique feature of their pterylosis is the inner
branch which is given off from the inferior tract at the lower end of its gular portion,
as represented in Fig. 205. Their bill is long, usually straight
and angular both above and below ; their feet are very short
and feeble, and the anterior toes are united for a consider-
able distance, giving the feet the appearance of a kind of
zygodactylous kingfisher’s foot. The plumage is character-
ized by brilliant metallic reflections on the upper surface of
the body.

The jacamars are of the same dull and stupid nature as
the puff-birds, and are therefore called by the Brazilians
‘Jofo doido, or ‘foolish John,’ and altogether their habits
are quite similar. Thus, for instance, they build in holes in
sandy banks, and lay two white eggs. Hardly two dozen
species are known, most of them agreeing in shape and
colors more or less with the type, Galbula galbula. The
upper side and breast are of a most brilliant metallic golden
green, like that of trogons or humming-birds; hence it is also
called in South America ‘ Bejaflor grande” The throat is
whitish, rest of under surface rusty. Jacamerops grandis
is the largest of the group, somewhat similarly colored,
but with a shorter, though broader and stouter, curved bill.
Jacamaraleyon tridactylus is notable for having lost the
first toe, like the three-toed woodpeckers, thus differing
FiG.205.— Ventral pterylosis COnSiderably from the three-toed kingfishers, in which it

of Galbula. is the second digit that has become rudimentary. The
species of the genus Urogalba are blackish with steel-blue reflections, and have the
two central tail-feathers greatly elongated.

Every well-defined ‘family’ has its peculiarity which deserves a rather detailed
treatment; and the Rampnastip#, or toucans, form no exception. The first thing
which strikes the observer, when looking at one of the large toucans, is the enormous
size of the bill. It is not only as long as the bird itself, but it does not lack much of
equalling the body in bulk; and the observer will most likely make the remark that
such an enormous bill must be very heavy. The fact is, however, that the bill is
extremely light in comparison with its size, being very thin, and filled with a light,
cellular bony tissue. Professor Owen, in his observations on the anatomy of Ram-
phastos, thus describes the bill: “The osseous portions of the mandibles of the toucan
are disposed in a manner adapted to combine with the great bulk of those parts a due
degree of strength and remarkable lightness ; and the bony structure is consequently
of a most beautiful and delicate kind. The external parietes are extremely thin,

TOUCANS. 415

especially in the upper beak; they are elastic, and yield in a slight degree to mode-
rate pressure, but present considerable resistance if a force is applied for the purpose
of crushing the beak. At the points of the mandibles the outer walls are nearly a
line in thickness; at other parts, in the upper beak, they are much thinner, varying
from one-thirtieth to one-fiftieth part of an inch, and in the lower beak are from
one-twentieth to one-thirtieth of an inch in thickness. On making a longitudinal
section of the upper mandible, its base is seen to be a conical cavity. The walls of
this cone consist of a most beautiful osseous network, intercepting irregular angular
spaces varying in diameter from half a line to two lines. From the parietes of this
cone, a network of bony fibres is continued to the outer parietes of the mandible, the
fibres which immediately support the latter being almost invariably implanted at
right angles to the part in which they are inserted. The whole of the mandible
anterior to the cone is occupied with a similar network. The air is admitted to the
interior of the upper mandible from a cavity situated anterior to the orbit. The
nasal cavity has no communication with the interior of the mandible.”

Fig. 206.— Vertical longitudinal section of the bill of Ramphastos toco, to show the cellular structure of the bill.
b, cavity at the base; d, external nares; i, cerebrum; &, cerebellum; /, tongue; m, orifice of larynx, n of
pharynx ; cn Doping ce spinal cord; s, nasal septum; ¢r, trachea; w, air cell, anterior to orbit from which
the air enters the maxilla.

To facilitate the understanding of the above, we have introduced Fig. 206, in
which is also shown the long and peculiar tongue of these birds, which, looked at
from above, presents the appearance of a feather, the margin on both sides being
obliquely notched, and the notches toward the extremity becoming deeper and closer
together, so as to occasion a bristled appearance of the edges. There are many other
peculiarities ; but we only mention the fact that the clavicles do not unite at the lower
end into a furculum, each one being separately connected with the sternum.

The toucans have a remarkable habit of turning their tails upon their backs. This
is performed with a jerk, “as if on a hinge that was operated on by a spring.” In
examining the caudal vertebra, it will be found that the six basal ones are articulated
by ball-and-socket joints and connected with the last ones, which are anchylosed, by a
synovial joint, and can be bent dorsad till their superior spines touch the sacrum,
while the broad and large transverse processes almost wholly prevent lateral motion.
The muscles, therefore, which in other birds turn the tail sideways, in the toucans
become assistants to the true elevators of the tail; for when the latter have bent it
upwards sufficiently, the former become dorsad of the centre of motion, causing the

416 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

jerk of the tail by suddenly combining with the elevator muscles. The peculiar
structure of the tail is also manifested by its unusual elongation, as is evident from an
inspection of Fig. 172 (p. 370).

The toucans are contined to the warmer portions of the Neotropical region, and
do not occur in the West Indies. They are equally characteristic of the tropical
parts of America as are the two foregoing families, and have no near relatives among
the Old World birds, though their enormous large and serrated bills offer an analogy

Fia. 207. — Pleroglossus wiedii, Maximilian’s aragari.

to the hornbills, with which they are often confounded in the popular mind. There
are alittle more than fifty species, varying in size from that of a robin to that of a
crow, the smaller forms having proportionately smaller bills than the larger ones. The
former are usually more or less greenish, with brown and yellow; while the latter have
the greater part of the plumage black, relieved by the gorgeous coloration of the
foreneck, upper and under tail-coverts in red, yellow, and white. The naked eye-space
and the huge bill are also painted most vividly and characteristically. The aragaris

TOUCANS. 417

(Pteroglossus) are intermediate in size and coloration. Thus, the species figured,
P. wiedii, has a black head and neck, mantle green, under surface yellow, with the
rump and abroad band across the lower breast beautiful red. The bill is pale buff
and black. This species inhabits Brazil, and is replaced in the regions to the north of
that empire with a closely allied form, P. aracar?. Our next illustration represents
the type of the restricted genus Ramphastos, the toco toucan (22. picatus), the giant
of the family. It is black, foreneck and rump white, under tailcoverts red, bill

FIG. 208.— Ramphastos picatus, toco toucan.

orange and black, feet blue. Restricted to the slopes of the Andes is a small genus,
called Andigena, of half a dozen species, characterized by a uniform wash of color on
the under surface, instead of the bars of rich red and black so conspicuous in the true
Pteroglossi. The most remarkable species is A. laminirostris, the laminated hill-
toucan, the native habitat of which is the forests at the base of Pichincha, a high
mountain of Ecuador. Upper side of head and neck are black, back golden brown,
rump pale sulphur yellow, under surface ashy blue with a yellow patch on the flanks,
under tail-coverts blood-red. Most curious and unique is the laminated appendage of
VOL. Iv. —27

418 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the bill. On either side of the upper mandible, immediately in front of the blood-red
basal band, is a buff-colored plate or lamina, continuous with the structure of the bill
at its base, but separate and detached in front, thin on its upper edge, but thicker and
projecting beyond the edge of the mandible below.

We will not tax the patience of the reader further by enumerating the names of
the various species, preferring to introduce some notes on their habits by travelers
who have watched these beautiful and interesting birds in their native haunts. The
following is from Edward’s *‘ Voyage up the Amazon’ :—

“ Most noticeable of all these birds, both for size and peculiarity of form, are the
toucans. There are many varieties at different seasons, but the red-billed (2. erythro-
rhynchus) and the ariel (J. ariel) are the largest and most abundant, seen at every
season, but towards autumn particularly, in vast numbers throughout the forest.
Their large beaks give them a very awkward appearance, more especially when fly-
ing; yet, in the trees, they use them with as much apparent ease as though they were,
to our eyes, of a more convenient form. Alighted on a tree, one usually acts the part
of sentinel, uttering constantly the loud ery tacano, whence they derive their name.
The others disperse over the branches in search of fruit.

“ We had been told that these birds were in the habit of tossing up their food to
a considerable distance, and catching it as it fell; but, as far as we could observe,
they merely threw back the head, allowing the fruit to fall down the throat. We saw,
at different times, tamed toucans, and they were never seen to toss their food, although
almost invariably throwing back the head. The habit is rendered necessary by the
length of the bill and the stiffness of the tongue, which prevent their eating as do
other birds. All the time when feeding a hoarse chattering is kept up, and at inter-
vals they unite with the noisy sentry, and scream a concert that may be heard a mile.
Having appeased their appetites, they fly towards the deeper forest, and quietly doze
away the noon, Often in the very early morning a few of them may be seen sitting
silently upon the branches of some dead tree, apparently awaiting the coming sunlight
before starting for their feeding-trees. When roosting, they have a habit of elevating
their tails over their backs.”

Azara reports that the toco “builds in the holes of trees, and hatches two young
ones, closely resembling the adults, which feed them until they are able to fly.”

Toucans are easily kept in captivity, and become very tame, making most interest-
ing pets. They are now rather common in the zoological gardens, where their singular
aspects and glorious colors are among the greatest attractions. In captivity they are
completely omnivorous, and some authorities assert that they are equally so in the
wild state, but the bulk of evidence goes to show that in their native forests they feed
chiefly on fruit.

Though usually confounded with the puff-birds by earlier writers, and during the
first days of ornithology even united with them in the same genus, the MecaLamups,
or barbets, are only distantly related to them, approaching, in fact, in such a way the
toucans and the woodpeckers, that their position in the linear system between these
two families seems to be indisputable. The characters separating them from the puff-
birds have already been given, and their chief distinctions from the families mentioned
are apparent from the table heading the super-family.

Both in the texture of the feathers and in the arrangement of the feather-tracts,
the barbets agree well with the toucans, and, except in the bill, their anatomy is not
very different. It may be mentioned especially that also in the barbets the two clavi-

BARBETS. 419

cles remain separate, not anchylosing into a single furculum. Their bills are small
compared with those of the toucans, but are stout, somewhat conic, broad at the base,
and more or less compressed towards the tip. In some of the larger species the bill
shows some tendency towards the toucans, in being large and serrated along the edges.
The tongue is usually long and thin, but simple, though in some large species it is
slightly barbed. The name barbet is derived from the large and strong bristles which
in most forms are inserted at the base of the bill, and often are so long as to reach con-
siderably beyond the tip. They are, on the whole, small birds, ranging in size from

Fic. 209. — Megalaima hemacephala, crimson-breasted barbet.

that of a flicker to that of a sparrow. They are of a rather stout and clumsy build,
with big heads, and few of them present any graceful appearance. The coloration is
in most cases very gorgeous, but the juxtaposition of the colors is often such as to
produce a tasteless effect. Sky-blue, light green, and yellow are sometimes found com-
bined with red and other colors in such a manner as to annoy an eye accustomed to
harmony in colors.

The geographical distribution of the barbets has given rise to much speculation.
They inhabit the tropical forest zone of both hemispheres, though wanting entirely in
Australia. They are represented most poorly in the Neotropical region, notwithstand-

420 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

-

ing their relationship to the toucans, while in Asia and Africa together there are nearly
six times as many species as in South America, the number of species known amount-
ing to some eighty. Miocene remains of barbets have not yet been identified, but
little doubt is entertained but that the explanation of the curious distribution of the
barbets is the same as that of the trogons (p. 371).

The species figured in the accompanying cut is the crimson-breasted barbet (Me-
galaima hemacephala) from the Philippine Islands, but represented by closely allied
races all over the Indian region. It is green above, yellowish beneath, streaked with
green; forehead and a pectoral gorget glistening crimson, the latter edged behind
with golden yellow; throat and eye-region pale sulphur yellow; rest of head black,
except occiput, which, together with the sides of the neck, has a bluish tinge. This
form is representative of the central and most numerous group of the family. In
India it is known as the tambagut, or ‘coppersmith,’ a name originating in its ery,
which is a monotonous and deliberate took, took, took, accompanied by a peculiar nod-
ding of the head at each call. I. rafflesii, from the Malay peninsula, is still more
gaudily colored, and deserves mentioning, being one of the commonest species in col-
lections from the tropical east. Mr. R. Swinhoe writes as follows of the habits of
M. faber, from the Island of Hainan: “From its loud, peculiar eall, the Hainan
species has earned among the natives of the island the appellation of ‘ironsmith,
whence I have derived its specific name. It is a stupid, heavy species, keeping much
to the upper boughs of umbrageous trees, especially those of the fig group, of which
there are a good many kinds in Hainan. It sits still among the leaves, munching the
figs, and you may be under a tree a long time without knowing that a party of bar-
bets are overhead, except from the constant falling of berries. In flying, they hold
the head with the heavy bill well up, the body and tail inclining downward, while
the wings keep on a continued fluttering, and propel the bird in a straight direction.”

The pearl-spotted barbet (Zrachyphonus margaritatus) from northeastern Africa
represents another style of coloration, being umber brown with white spots above ;
sulphur yellow underneath; upper and under tail-coverts, deep scarlet. The species
of this group are also characterized by longer tail and tarsus. Their habits have
been described by the celebrated traveler and ornithologist Theodor von Heuglin
as follows : —

“The note of the Zrachyphoni is loud and very melodious; they run (though in a
different manner from woodpeckers) up and down the trunks of trees, feeding upon
insects, berries, and fruits, as they hop from branch to branch. Their flight is short,
but rapid; their course consisting of a series of numerous undulations. I never saw
any of the species of this group on the ground. I am not acquainted with the mode
of propagation of these birds, except that Z. margaritatus builds in holes of trees,
and lays white eggs, usually from four to six in number.” Another African form is
Pogonorhynchus dubius, the bearded barbet, with a large, deeply suleated and den-
tated beak, guarded underneath by long and strong bristles, and with a large naked
space round the eyes. Its coloration is very peculiar, in some respects reminding one of
some species of toucans, being glossy black above, across the breast, and underneath
behind the legs. The throat and sides of neck, together with the middle part of the
abdomen, are glossy deep blood-red ; flanks, white.

Nearly all the South American species belong to the genus Capito, and resemble
in their general aspect the true Megalaimas, but have the bristles at the base of the
bill much less developed. Peculiar are the two species forming the genus Zetragon-

HONE Y-GUIDES. 421

-

ops, since they seem to exhibit characters, both in structure and coloration, which
make them nearly intermediate between the barbets proper and the toucans. One
feature of their bill is quite unique, however, the lower mandible being distinctly bi-
fureated at its extremity, and the point of the upper fitting into the groove thus made.
On each side the point of the lower mandible overlaps that of the upper one, and, seen
in profile, the bill, from either side, reminds one of that of the cross-bill. In coloration
the two species are very different. 7. ramphastinus, from Ecuador, is golden brown
above, orange red underneath, with ashy throat, and a scarlet breast-band, head with
a small medial crest, and neck above black, with a white postocular streak; while 7
JSrantzii, from Costa Rica, is more uniform olivaceous and ochraceous, but in both
cases is a certain similarity to the style of the toucan genus Andigena not to be
mistaken. The first mentioned species is the largest, or one of the largest, of the
family.

That we place the InpicaTrorIp&, or honey-guides, near the barbets and the wood-
peckers no longer needs special defence; but as many authors still persist in keeping
them among the Cuculide, a few words on their diagnostic structures
may be in order. As shown in the accompanying cut (fig. 210),
the palate is schizognathous, and the vomer is bifurcated in front;
the dorsal tract is simple between the shoulders ; the ambiens muscle
is absent; the oil-gland is tufted and the ceca are absent; the deep
plantar tendons are antiopelmous; only one carotid is present; “ the
tensor patagii brevis muscle of the wing is inserted into the extensor
metacarpi radialis longus, exactly as in the Megalaimide, Ramphas-
tide, and Picidee, and as in no other birds.” In all these respects
and many more the honey-guides differ from the cuckoos, but agree,
on the other hand, with one or more of the families just mentioned.
The aboye suftices to prove their near relationship, and Garrod even
went so far as to include the toucans, barbets, and honey-guides as gS ae eet oe
sub-families in the same family. The latter present several peculi- sD eterna CL)
arities, however, among which may be mentioned that the number of as .
primaries is only nine. The tail has twelve rectrices, the outer pair being small, as in
the woodpeckers.

The Indicatoridze form a small family of about a dozen species, three-fourths of
which inhabit the African continent, while the remainder are found in the Oriental
region ; viz., one, Indicator xanthonotus, in India, malayanus in Malacea, and archipe-
lagicus in Borneo. They are small birds, of rather dull colors—the African species
illustrated in our eut (Z. indicator) being brownish gray, lighter underneath, with white
ear-tufts, and a small yellow patch on the inner minute wing-coverts; tail, brown and
white.

The names honey-guide and indicator bestowed upon these birds refer to a pecu-
liarity in their habits, so astonishing that it was generally believed to be a fable, until
the unanimous statements of trustworthy observers seem to have put it beyond doubt.
One of the latest accounts is found in Mr. E. F. Sandeman’s ‘Eight Months in an
Ox-Wagon,’ in which he graphically relates his experience with this curious bird, in
1878, in Transvaal, as follows : —

“ A small gray bird with a reddish beak, the size of a sparrow, had flown along-
side and round the wagon for the last mile of our trek, making a shrill, hissing ery,
and sometimes almost flying in the faces of the drivers; and I noticed that the boys

.

422 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

were regarding it with peculiar attention, and talking among themselves in reference
to it. On asking what caused the unusual interest of the boys in, to all appearance,
a very commonplace bird, it was explained that this little insignificant visitor was the
far-famed honey-bird. As soon as the oxen were outspanned and the boys at liberty,
three of them, armed with buckets, spades and hatchets, set off towards the bird,
which had flown to a neighboring tree as soon as it perceived that our attention was
successfully attracted. A. and myself, to whom it was as strange an adventure as it
was novel, accompanied the boys. As soon as we reached the tree the little fellow
had perched on, it flitted to the next, and then on again when we came up. For

FiG. 211. — Indicator indicator, honey-guide.

nearly a mile this was kept up, and as the way grew more difficult and the bushes
more dense, our own faith in the bird was rapidly giving place to irritation at what
began to look very like a trick of the others at the expense of our inexperience.
However, the boys seemed so genuinely astonished at our doubts, that we still fol-
lowed on.

“ At last the bird stopped altogether in a small clump of some dozen mimosa-trees,
all growing within a few feet of one another. When we came up to it, instead of, as
heretofore, flying off in a straight line, it just flitted on to an opposite tree, remained
there a few moments, and then back to its previous position. This was its signal that
the nest was close at hand. The boys examined the trunks of the trees round most
carefully, but could find no opening where the nest could by any possibility be situ-
ated. The bird grew more and more angry and indignant at what it evidently con-

WOODPECKERS. 423

sidered our extreme stupidity, and flapped its little wings and redoubled the shrill
eries which it had ceased to utter while leading us to the spot. At last, losing all
patience, it actually settled on a piece of the stem of one of the trees it had been
persistently flitting backwards and forwards in front of. The boys, now paying more
attention to this particular tree, perceived just above where the bird had perched a
small hole, and round it a kind of cement. While we were watching, a bee flew out,
which made it certain that the nest was within the trunk. The driver of Woodward’s
wagon, who was an old hand at the work, at once climbed up the tree with a hatchet,
and under his direction the others collected armfuls of dried grass. Taking a large
handful of this, he lighted it, and then struck with the hatchet at the mouth of the
narrow hole. At the first blow a quantity of mud, wax, and decayed wood fell to the
ground, with which the bees had skilfully walled up a large portion of the decayed
wood. Out swarmed a cloud of bees, and now his burning grass came into operation.
As quickly as they flew out their wings were singed in the flames, and they dropped
helpless to the ground. A. and myself had retreated to a safe distance from the tree ;
but the boys stood close up, hardly caring if they were stung or not. In a very few
minutes, all the occupants of the nest were destroyed; but new comers were con-
stantly arriving, which made close quarters anything but pleasant. Not much cutting
was necessary to lay bare a large portion of the combs, which were laid horizontally
across the entire width of the hollow portion of the tree.

“ Before leaving we carefully fixed a comb filled with honey on the nearest bush,
and our late guide flew down and commenced his well-earned repast 2s soon as we
had turned our backs on the spot. The Kafirs would much prefer not to take any
honey at all, than depart with their spoil and not leave a portion for the bird. They
firmly believe that if they thus defraud the bird of its just rights, it will follow them
up, and at a future time, instead of leading them to honey, will entice them into the
lair of a lion, or to a nest in which some deadly snake lies concealed.”

The honey-guides lay white eggs, and it is stated, of some of the species at least,
that they are parasitic, like the euckoos.

“Considering the method adopted by the woodpeckers for obtaining their food, it
is hardly surprising that they possess cranial features peculiar to themselves; for it
is scarcely conceivable that the head, the most delicately constructed portion of the
body, should be employed as a powerful hammer or axe, whose strokes can be heard
at a considerable distance, without some modifications in structure which would assist
in increasing its efficacy for the purpose.”

To these words of Professor Garrod, as an introduction to the family Prcrpx, we
wish to append certain statements of Professor W. K. Parker, the result of his studies
of the embryological development of the ‘saurognathous’ palate. Huxley had already
characterized the palate of the woodpeckers, or Celeomorphe, according to his
nomenclature, as “exhibiting rather a degradation and simplification of the sgitho-
gnathous structure.’ This Professor Parker corroborates from an embryological
standpoint, saying: “The view there expressed, that these birds have a passerine
foundation, but that they are somewhat abortively developed, arrested one way and
wonderfully specializod in another, will be seen to be the exact truth of the matter.
The fact is, they are like early embryos of the Passerins, in their palatal region
arrested at a most simple and lacertian stage, whilst in other respects they are meta-
morphosed and specialized beyond any other kind of birds.”

The above quotations supplement each other in a manner which affords us the

424 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

clew to the peculiarities of the present family. The special use of the bill asa
hammer prevented its specialization in the same direction as in the egithognathous
birds.

Parker has briefly stated the chief saurognathous character to be “the want of
fusion of the parts of the palate at the mid line.” This is especially the case with the
vomer, the two halves of which remain separate even in the adult state. They will
be seen as two thin styles along the inner margins of the palatines. The abortive
development of the maxillo-palatines is also very notable. Another feature is the
feeble development of the posterior part of the palatines, the external posterior angle
being usually absent. These peculiar-
ities are well shown in Fig. 212 A
and B, which, besides, demonstrates
the great general resemblance of the
woodpecker’s palate and that of the
wryneck.

There are other features in the
organization of the woodpecker which
indicate an approach to the Passeres
besides the palate, for, as we have
already remarked, the manubrial pro-
cess of the breastbone is bifurcate, and
the pterylosis is quite ‘ oscinine, the
wing-coverts being small and few.
Another character of the wing, which
is isomorphic with the corresponding
one in the more specialized Passeres,
is the reduction in size of the first (or,

as would be more correct to say, the

ary Fig. 212. — Palate of (A) Dryobates and (B) Jynx ; map, max-
tenth) TUM illo-palatines ; p/, palatines ; pt, pterygoids ; v, vomer.

It would take more space than has
been allotted to the present family were we to describe in detail all the structural
peculiarities of the group, and, consequently, we are forced to content ourselves with
mentioning the curious machinery of the tongue.

The woodpecker’s tongue consists of the same bones as in most other birds,
except that the urohyal is entirely absent. The ceratohyals are only slightly devel-
oped, and early fused together. On the other hand, the basihyal and both pieces of
the horns (thyrohyals) are unusually slender and extremely elongated, often so long
that their ends reach forward over the top of the skull nearly to the tip of the bill, in
which case the whole appuratus slides forward in the sheath encasing the bones and
their muscles, when the tongue is thrust forward; or the ends of the horns are fastened
to the upper side of the skull, and their curvature hangs down along the sides of the
neck, as seen in the diagrams, Fig. 213 A and B. The extensor muscles which are
attached to the concave curyature of the horns and to the mandible, when contracted,
force the tongue forward a distance corresponding to the flattening of the loop of
the horns. By this means the cylindrical and worm-like tongue, which at the end is
provided with a pointed horny tip and barbed with sharp bristles, can be shot out far
beyond the tip of the bill, its flexibility enabling it to penetrate the winding tunnels
of the boring insects or the corridors of the industrious ants, on which most wood-

WOODPECKERS. 425

peckers feed. Large salivary glands (also indicated in the diagram) serve for Inbri-
cating the sliding tongue, and it has been demonstrated that the shortening of the
extensor muscles simultaneously exerts the necessary pressure upon the glands.

The woodpeckers form a very isolated group of at least three hundred and fifty
species, the geographical distribution of which is very interesting. They are most
numerous in South America and the Oriental region, less abundant in Africa, the
Palearctic, and North America. It is a very significant fact that they are entirely
absent from Madagascar and the whole Australian region, except in Celebes and
Flores, both of which were, probably, never connected with the Papu-Australian main-
land, and which are situated so close to the Indo-Malayan islands that it is safe to
conclude that their woodpeckers are comparatively recent immigrations from the latter.

We recognize three sub-families, the most generalized of which is that of the
Picumninz, a not numerous group of soft-tailed woodpeckers from the tropical zones

Fic. 213.— Diagrams showing (A) the extensile tongue of Picus from below; em, extensor muscles; , base of
tongue ; s7, salivary glands; th, thyrohyals ; and (B) the tongue bones of Picus from the side; chy, ceratohyal ;
bhy, basihyal; br! and br2, thyrohyals.

of both hemispheres. Parker regards their palate as the “most embryonic and least
specialized,” comparing it with that of the rhynchosaurian lizards and the passerine
Cotingid. The inner edges of the hind part of the palatines are greatly expanded
posteriorly and bent over so as to form two post-palatal flanges, as in the Cotingide
and allies, as well as in the lyre-bird (Menwra). Of Piewmnus, Professor Parker
finally says: ‘“ Altogether, this small, far-western type is extremely instructive, and
helps to lead the imagination down to extinct types in which the characters of the
hemipod, the Jow passerine, and the woodpecker were existent in one generalized
form, —a form and a type only a step or two above the raft-breasted ostrich tribe.”

The great antiquity of the piculets, as the Picumnine are sometimes called, is also
indicated by their geographical distribution. South America possesses by far the
greater number of species, perhaps a score; four or five belong to the Oriental region,
and one, Verreauxia africana, hails from western Africa.

Externally these birds differ from the other woodpeckers chiefly in their diminu-
tive size, and the structure of the tail, which is short and composed of normal, that is,

426 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

not stiffened and acuminated, rectrices. A good idea of the habitus of the piculets
may be formed from the accompanying plate, which represents, in natural size,
Picumnus lepidotus from Guiana. It is brownish gray on the back and abdomen, the.
rest of the under surface being whitish, squamulated with dusky; nasal tufts whitish;
head above black, in the male with red anteriorly, and white pearl spots on the
posterior half, while the female lacks the red, the spots dotting the whole head above;
the tail is black and white. The East Indian genus, Sasia, comprises a few three-
toed species, the first toe being aborted. In the same region is also found a four-
toed form, Vivia innominata, which is nearer allied to the Neotropical species.

The habits of these pygmy woodpeckers are very little known. Burmeister says
that their habits are entirely similar to those of our kinglets (2egulus). Reinhardt,
on the other hand, asserts that they differ in no way from the other woodpeckers ;
that, like these, they hammer on the trees with their bills, and climb on the trunks
and even on the under side of the branches, notwithstanding their soft tails. Prob-
ably their habits are most like those of the nuthatches, with which they also agree
in size. Euler states that they breed in holes in trees, which they bore themselves,
and from two to four glossy white eggs have been found in the nests.

The Picine, or woodpeckers proper, are easily distinguished by their stiffened,
elastic, pointed, and graduated tail-feathers, which are used as a support in climbing,
their ends being pressed against the bark, preventing a slipping backwards. The
bill is angular and wedge-shaped, forming a powerful hammer or axe, with which to
cut off chips of bark or wood in search of insects, or to dig holes into the wood in
order to build nesting-holes.

The woodpeckers are usually solitary birds, that is, they do not often associate
with others of their own kind. Some of the smaller species, however, seem to be
fond of the society of nuthatches, chickadees, kinglets, ete., during their rambles through
the woods in autumn and winter. During the breeding season some species are
known to produce a remarkable whirring sound, the so-called ‘drumming,’ by rapidly
striking a dry branch, which can be heard to a great distance. This seems to be the
male’s loye-song.

The flight of the woodpeckers is generally powerful, but undulating if kept up for
some distance. During their search for food, they proceed through the forests from
trunk to trunk, ascending them by starts from the lower part until they reach the top,
whence, in a single curve, they descend to the base of the next one. They lay their
glossy white eggs in some hole dug by themselves in a more or less decayed tree, and
both sexes attend to the incubation. The young ones are more or less like the adults
in color, though in many of the most familiar species they are even more highly orna-
mented than their parents. Thus in most of our species of the genus Dryobates, the
young ones have the whole top of the head red, while in the adult male it usually
becomes restricted to the occiput, and disappears altogether in the adult female. In
this case the difference in the two sexes can hardly be attributed to ‘sexual selection,
for it seems most probable that the original stock from which these species have devel-
oped originally had a red head, and the disappearance of this color may therefore
be regarded as protective. That it in most cases has also been partly lost by the male
is no objection, since he is known to partake in the incubation.

The Picine form a very homogeneous group, the structural characters being only
slightly varied, and such extravagant ornaments as racket-tails, wattles, excrescences
in form of horns, etc., are entirely unknown. The only sort of ornamental plumes are

WOODPECKERS. 427

the highly-developed nuchal crests in many tropical species. A noteworthy structural
specialization in several forms, otherwise not intimately related, is the abortion of the
first toe, so that only one hind toe remains —the fourth. Nevertheless, there are sey-
eral pretty well defined groups, or super-genera, under which the numerous species may
be advantageously classified.

Most woodpeckers have the nostrils concealed by tufts of bristly feathers directed
forward. In many museum specimens from the tropics these may have disappeared,
as the putrefaction which in those countries rapidly sets in first affects the feathers
around the bill. But a small group of species, about equally numerous in the tropical

Fic. 214. — Picus viridis, green woodpecker, yafile.

regions of both hemispheres, have no bristles where the bill joins the forehead, and
the nostrils are consequently fully exposed. Noteworthy among these forms is the
South American genus Celeus, the members of which have a very long occipital crest.
Some of the Indian species have only three toes, for instance the genus Ziga. The
absence or presence of the nasal bristles seems, however, to be of little account, since
Nesoceleus fernandine, which is confined to the island of Cuba, has the nostrils entirely
nude, though apparently closely related to the following group.

Our flicker (Colaptes auratus) and its many allies belong to another group, which
are distinguished by having a less typical wedge-shaped woodpecker bill, the angles
being more rounded, and the whole bill slightly arched. In regard to the remarkable

428 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

polychroic state of the yellow-shafted flicker and the red-shafted species, we refer to
the introduction to this volume (p. 8), where this question has been treated of in
detail, and where the Cape flicker (C. chrysoides), with red moustache, like C. cafer (or
mexicanus), but with yellow shafts and without red nuchal crescent, like C. auratus, was
also mentioned. Closely allied to the flickers are the South American ground flickers
(Soroplex). The habits of the typical species, S. campestris, are described by Bur-
meister as follows: “This flicker is one of the first peculiar objects to attract one’s
attention when entering the open campos districts of the interior of Brazil. They are
soon discovered hopping about on the lower trees in small companies, and the observer
is greatly astonished to see one or the other once in a while jump down and walk
about on the ground. This bird is especially engaged in search of the termites, and
destroys the covered passages which these insects construct in the grooves of the bark
in order to reach their nests undisturbed. But even these structures, strongly made
of clay, the ground flicker knows how to open, and how to catch their inhabitants.”
The South African G'eocolaptes olivaceus is still more partial to the ground, for, accord-
ing to Layard, “it never pecks wood, but bores its way into the banks of rivers, sides
of hills, or the walls of mud buildings, in search of its prey and for a home for its
young.”

The green woodpeckers, as the name indicates, are very conspicuous for their
more or less green colors, ornamented, as in most woodpeckers, with red. A well-
known representative of this group, which, as shown in the accompanying wood-cut,
also spends part of its life on the ground, spearing unfortunate ants by its worm-
like barbed tongue, is the yaflle (Picus viridis), the common green woodpecker of
Europe, celebrated for its laughing voice, which it is said to produce especially at the
approach of rain, and many a farmer on the other side of the ocean pays more atten-
tion to the ‘indications’ and ‘probabilities’ of this sagacious bird than to those of the
meteorological stations. The three-toed Indian genus, Gecinulus, seems to be related
to this group.

Before mentioning the typical pied woodpeckers we will have to say a few words
of a somewhat peculiar form from India, as by some ornithologists it has been regarded
as forming a ‘sub-family’ of its own. The short-tailed woodpeckers (7/emicireus) are
especially remarkable for their short and rounded tails, the feathers of which are
searcely rigid at all. They are small birds, without red in their plumage, and but little
is known of their habits. Mr. Jerdon says of ZZ. canente that it has “on the centre of
the back a brush of dark sap-green bristly feathers, smeared with a viscid secretion
from a gland beneath.”

A sort of transition from the foregoing to the pied woodpeckers (Dryobates) is
formed by the oriental sub-genus Yungipicus, in which the lateral tail-feathers are
less rigid than the central ones. Dryobates proper contains a great number of small
or medium-sized species in the more northern parts of the two hemispheres. They
are parti-colored, white and black, with red markings on the head and also often on
the under side. Three European species are represented in the accompanying cut,
from which, in a general way, our North American species differ but little except in
not having the white tail-feathers barred with black. This difference is very curious,
inasmuch as the Siberian representatives of the European species, and still more those
which inhabit Kamtschatka, show a tendency towards losing the dark cross-bars; but
this is followed by a general increase of the white all over the body, while in
the Nearctic species the greater amount of white on the tail is independent of the dis-

WOODPECKERS. 429

tribution of the two colors elsewhere. A similar distribution of the colors is observable
in Picotdes, a circumboreal genus of three-toed pied woodpeckers, with a yellow crown
in the male. The European species, 2. tridactylus, is figured on the plate opposite
p. 426, in order to give an idea of this interesting genus, which inhabits the north-
ernmost forests in: both hemispheres, but which also has a representative in the moun-
tains of Chinese Tibet, the sombre-colored P. funebris.

Fia, 215. — Dryobates medius, major, and minor, European middle, greater and lesser w oodpeckers.
y » major, , i 8

Finally, we have to consider the thin-necked woodpeckers, a group of large forms,
which have the feathers of the neck peculiarly short, thereby increasing the appear-
ance of slenderness of the neck. That the neck of the woodpecker is usually smaller
than the head, most collectors have discovered when skinning specimens, but exter-
nally this feature is most apparent in the present group. Most of the species are very
large and powerful birds, with a considerable amount of black in their plumage, while
the head, as usual, is adorned with more or less red. Here belongs the well-known
great black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius), which inhabits the Palearctic region

430 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

from Europe to northern Japan, — black all over, with acrimson cap. Linnzeus, indeed,
dedicated this bird to Mars, the Roman god of warfare; but the evidence seems to show
that this was not the woodpecker which the old augurs regarded as Picus, of whom
the Roman mythology fabled that he was changed into a woodpecker by Circe when she
found that her love for him was not requited, but was possessed by Pomona. In the

Ne
/| ) ‘SON ye }
KS Uae
mS Mh et C e
OLN D. —_—

FIG, 216.— Campephilus principalis, ivory-billed woodpecker.

Oriental region are found several nearly allied forms; for instance, D. leucogaster
from Java, which has the abdomen white and the sides of head and throat striped
with the same color. Messrs. Motley and Dillwyn give the following interesting
account of its habits: —

“These birds are not uncommon in Labuan, and frequently fly in small parties of
six or eight. They much frequent dead trees whose bark is just beginning to fall,

WOODPECKERS. 431

and are very amusing to watch, being always in motion, and very noisy. They begin
rather low down on a tree, moving upwards by jumps, with a cry like the chatter of
a magpie to the time of our green woodpecker’s laugh. Perhaps two or three will be
ascending one tree at the same time, trying the bark with incessant taps, and wrench-
ing open every likely crack with their powerful chisel-beaks. When they reach the
branches, they hold a sort of discussion of tremendous chatter; and then each takes
his own branch, and the bark here, being usually more decayed than on the stem, comes
down in showers. If you make any loud noise, or show yourself suddenly, all disap-
pear ina moment. Perhaps one or two may fly off, with a swift but laborious action
of the wings; but the majority hide behind branches. Ina minute or so, if all is
quiet, you will see a head peer out from behind some snag, and, after looking around
and seeing nothing, a croak of satisfaction brings out two or three more heads; but
not a body is seen till all the heads are perfectly satisfied of their safety. At last
they all come out, and chatter together most vociferously for a minute or two before
they go on feeding. Though apparently so wary, they rarely leave the tree they are
examining, even if fired at.”

To this group also belong our pileated woodpecker, or log-cock ( Ceophlaus pilea-
tus), and the ‘prince’ among the woodpeckers, as Linnzeus called the magnificent ivory-
billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). This is one of the largest and most
striking looking birds of the whole family. It is found in the heavily timbered
portions of our Southern States, especially those bordering the Mexican Gulf, but
being a solitary and extremely wary bird, and not numerous even in those regions which
may be regarded as its headquarters, it is rare in collections, and its habits are but
little known. A nearly allied species, named C. bairdi in honor of Prof. S. F.
Baird, is a native of Cuba; and another related species, C. imperialis, the ‘empe-
ror’ woodpecker, is found in the mountain-forests of Mexico and Guatemala.

There has been great difference among authors as to the question whether the
woodpeckers are to be regarded as injurious or not, as both sides have had, and still
have, vigorous, and, as is too often the case, even fanatical advocates. The fact is,
that the question cannot be affirmed or denied in its generality; for while one kind of
woodpecker may be injurious, another may be beneficial, and even the same species
may be injurious during one part of the year and beneficial during the rest, or injurious
in one country and beneficial in another. Consequently, an author can scarcely adduce
a fact to prove one side, without his opponent producing equally incontestible evidence
for the opposite. The woodpeckers’ digging holes in the trees is excused by their
friends, who say that they never attack a sound tree, and that by hastening the
destruction of already more or less rotten trees, they are decidedly beneficial; but
there are undoubted cases where perfectly sound trees have been injured, though this
is the exception. Other species are charged with stealing berries; and some might
fancy that Meélanerpes formicivorus, which is famous for its acorn-storing propensities,
may do harm by depriving the hogs of their food, as in some parts of Europe they
are prosecuted on the plea that by eating the seeds of the forest trees they prevent the
forest from renewing itself. But these accusations are evidently insignificant com-
pared with the enormous number of insects which the woodpeckers destroy; for
insects, no doubt, are nearly in all cases their chief food. But not even this fact can be
scored unconditionally to their credit; for they are justly charged with making no
discrimination between injurious and beneficial insects, as some species of wood-
peckers largely subsist upon ants, those great benefactors of the woods. We shall

432 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

not stop to consider the trifling injury they may cause by, in a few exceptional cases,
boring holes in the weather-boarding of houses in order to store their acorns away,
or digging breeding-holes in wooden church-steeples; but there is one small group of
woodpeckers which, on account of their organization and their chief food, may be
regarded as perhaps mostly injurious — viz., the so-called sap-suckers (Sphyrapicus).
In these, the hyoid bones are not so excessively elongated, and the tongue conse-
quently is protrusible only in a very slight degree. The tip is also differently armed,
being simply brushed and not barbed,—features which indicate that the food of
these birds is different from the rest of the woodpeckers, consisting as it chiefly does
of the sap of the trees. The late Dr. Alfred E. Brehm was an enthusiastic defender of

FiG, 217. —Jynzx torquilla, wryneck.

the woodpeckers. When, two years ago, shortly before his death, he visited this
country, as we were standing at the entrance to the Smithsonian Institution, nearly
driven to despair by the incessant din of the English sparrows which tried to drown
our voices, he asked me to show him a characteristic American bird. Just at that
moment a bird alighted on the trunk of the nearest tree, and I had the satisfaction of
pointing out to him our common yellow-bellied sap-sucker (8. varius). As the bird
reached the first branch, it thrust its bill into the smooth bark, leaving a square hole,
easily visible from the moist sap which made it look dark against the dusty surface ;
and tap-tap-tap-tap, with an astonishing regularity and in a most business-like manner,
the little fellow punctured the trunk horizontally and vertically until the tree looked
as if it had suffered from small-pox, and ‘Bird’ Brehm, who had watched the per-

TROGONS. 433

formance with extreme interest, admitted that the sap-sucker, under circumstances,
may become an extremely injurious bird. Nevertheless, even this great offender is not
entirely without his good sides; for we have Mr. William Brewster’s word for it that
“after the young have hatched it rises to the proud independence of a fly-catcher,
taking its prey on wing as unerringly as the best marksman of them all. From its
perch on the spire of some tall stub it makes a succession of rapid sorties after its
abundant victims, and then flies off to its nest with bill and mouth crammed full of
insects, principally large Diptera.”

The wrynecks (Jynginz) constitute a single genus (Jynx) of half a dozen species,
which all belong to the Old World, especially Africa, while they are entirely wanting
in Australia and America. They are rather small birds, with a wedge-shaped but not
angular bill, and the tongue extensile. The tail is rather long, slightly rounded,
consisting of twelve soft and rounded rectrices; the outer one on each side is very
short, however, as in the woodpecker, and completely hidden by the under tail-
coverts ; the first primary is also very short, exceedingly so in the Palearctic species.
The tarsus is scutellated both in front and behind. The coloration is a beautiful and
intricate mixture of gray, buff, rusty black, and white, very difficult to describe, with
a dark longitudinal band along the middle of the back and adjoining part of the
neck, the African species with a large chestnut-brown patch on the throat and foreneck.

The wryneck or snake-bird (Jynx torquilla), the species depicted in our illustra-
tion, is a migratory bird, which in England arrives at the same time as the cuckoo;
hence, it is also called the ‘cuckoo’s maid,’ or‘cuckoo’s mate.’ The two first men-
tioned names are derived from a peculiar habit of twisting the neck with a slow,
undulatory movement, like that of a snake, turning the head back and closing its
eyes as in a fit, evidently with the intention of frightening its enemies. A captive
held in the hand will usually perform this trick, and, taking advantage of the specta-
tor’s surprise at its strange behavior, suddenly escape. The wryneck’s food consists
of insects, especially ants. It breeds in hollow trees, and lays white polished eggs.
Its ery is very much like that of the kestrel.

The trogons (TROGONOIDE) are heterodactylous, that is, have the first and
second toes turned backwards; no other birds are. The trogons are also heteropel-
mous (see fig. 171 D); no other birds are. These features alone are, consequently,
sufficient to distinguish the trogons from the other Picarians, but the chief characters
may be briefly summed up in order to indicate the relationship of these birds. Their
palate is desmognathous, and basipterygoids are present; the sternum is four-notched
behind; the myological formula is A X; only the left carotid is developed; cxeca are
present, and the oil-gland is nude. The pterylosis is also in other respects very
passerine, especially in the distribution and form of the feather-tract, but the after-
shafts of the contour-feathers are very large; the long tail consists of twelve rectrices,
the outer ones being graduated; the first primary is short. Altogether the trogons
are rather peculiar, showing no special relationship to any other group of the present
order, a circumstance which explains the fact that by the different systematists they
have been associated with nearly all the groups of the Picarix.

The trogons form a very well circumscribed family, Trocontp&, consisting of
about fifty species, inhabiting the tropical regions. They are rather numerous in the
Neotropical, less so in the Oriental region, and rare in Africa, and are, during the
present geological epoch, entirely unknown in the Nearctic, Palearctic, and Aus-
tralian regions. This was quite otherwise during a previous period; for, as Dr.

VOL. Iv. —28

434 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Wallace remarks: “Remains of Zrogon have been found in the miocene deposits of
France; and we are thus able to understand the existing distribution of the family.
At that exceptionally mild period in the northern hemisphere, these birds may have
ranged over all Europe and North America; but, as the climate became more severe,
they gradually became restricted to the tropical regions, where alone a sufliciency of
fruit and insect food is found all the year round.”

We are not aware that there is any important structural character by which the
trogons inhabiting the eastern hemisphere can be separated from those living in the
western half of the globe. A considerable difference in their habits, however, is
reported, inasmuch as the American species are said to be chiefly fruit-eaters, while
Wallace informs us that the Old World forms subsist almost exclusively on insects.
Very remarkable is the way by which the former are known to obtain the fruits.
Their feet are comparatively small and weak, and, although in a measure ‘ yoke-
toed,’ they are entirely unfit for climbing; the trogon, therefore, darts from its perch
after the fruit, like a flycatcher after an insect, seizes it while on the wing, and
returns again toits perch. Such is also the habit of the most brilliant, most exquisite,
and most celebrated of all the trogons, the quesal, according to Mr. Osbert Salvin’s
account. The quesal is only to be found*in Central America, where it is represented
by two but slightly differentiated forms, one in Costa Rica, the other, the more bril-
liant one of the two, in Guatemala, where it has been chosen for the national emblem.
Imagine a bird of the size of a magpie, and with the splendor of a humming-bird or a
sun-bird, and you may have an idea of the magnificent Pharomacrus mocinno. The
whole upper surface, breast, neck, and head, including the curious rounded and com-
pressed crest, are rich golden green, and so are the smaller wing-coyerts, some of
which are lengthened into gracefully drooping plumes, overhanging the wing; four
upper tail-coverts, of a similarly brilliant green, are enormously lengthened, especially
the two central ones, which in perfect specimens may reach a length of nearly three
feet; the true tail-feathers are black and white, and the posterior part of the under
side is rich vermilion inclining to crimson. Only the males are adorned with the long
floating train, the females, as in most trogons, being much plainer.

Regretting that want of space forbids us to reprint the whole of Mr. Salvin’s
account of his ‘quesal-shooting in Vera Paz,’ we take the liberty to make a few extracts
bearing directly on the habits of this remarkable bird : —

“My companions are ahead, and I am just balancing myself along the last trunk,
when Filipe comes back to say that they have heard a quesal. Of course, being
especially anxious to watch as well as to shoot one of these birds myself, I immedi-
ately hurry to the spot. I have not to wait long. A distant clattering note indicates
that the bird is on the wing. He settles—a splendid male—on a bough of a tree
not seventy yards from where we are hidden. It sits almost motionless on its perch,
the body remaining in the same position, the head only moving slowly from side to
side. ‘The tail does not hang quite perpendicularly, the angle between the true tail
and the vertical being perhaps as much as fifteen or twenty degrees. The tail is
occasionally jerked open and closed again, and now and then slightly raised, causing
the long tail-coverts to vibrate gracefully. I have not seen all. A ripe fruit catches
the quesal’s eye, and he darts from his perch, hovers for a moment, plucks the berry,
and returns to his former position. This is done with a degree of elegance that defies
description. A low whistle from Cipriano calls the bird nearer, and a moment after-
wards it is in my hand, —the first quesal I have seen and shot.

TROGONS. 435

“The cries of the quesal are various. They consist principally of alow double
note, ‘whe-oo, whe-oo, which the bird repeats, whistling it softly at first, and then
gradually swelling it into aloud but not unmelodious cry. This is often succeeded
by a long note, which begins low, and, after swelling, dies away as it began. Both
these notes can be easily imitated by the human voice. The bird’s other cries are
harsh and discordant. The flight of the quesal is rapid and straight; the long tail-
feathers, which never seem to be in his way, stream after him. The bird is never
found except in forests composed of the highest trees, the lower branches of which
(i. e., those at about two-thirds of the height of the tree from the ground) seem to be
its favorite resort. Its food consists principally of fruit, but occasionally a caterpillar
may be found in its stomach.”

In most of the American species of the true trogons a certain uniform distribution
of colors is apparent, since the back and breast are either metallic green or brown-
ish, and the abdomen red or yellow, separated from the breast by a white band.
It may be remarked that this red or yellow of the lower parts in the trogons is very
evanescent, fading entirely out in museum specimens exposed to the light. In the
two West Indian genera, each consisting of one species, Priotelus and Temnotrogon,
the former restricted to Cuba, the latter to the island of Haiti, the upper parts are
metallic green, posterior half of under parts brilliant red, while the anterior half is
delicately gray. While in most trogons the tail-feathers are somewhat square at the
end, this peculiarity is rather exaggerated in the West Indian forms, especially in the
Cuban Priotelus temnurus, in which the corners are produced into points, thereby
making the end concave, and forming a most remarkable tail. This latter form is
known to the Cubans as the ‘tocororo,’ a name derived from its ery. Dr. Gundlach
reports that it breeds in abandoned woodpecker holes, and deposits three to four white
eggs which have a slight bluish tinge. This, like some other American forms, has the
edges of the mandibles strongly serrated. The African genus, Apaloderma, has only
the lower mandible serrated, while the Indian Harpactes only have a notch before the
tip of the upper one. These, according to Jerdon, seize insects on the wing, much in
the same manner as the American species secure the fruits.

Figure 218 represents the African species, Apaloderma narina, which is metallic
green on the back, head, and breast, while the rest of the under parts are brilliant
carmine, the bill yellow; it is, consequently, very similar to the American species in
coloration. Layard says that when apprehensive of discovery it sits motionless on its
branch until alarmed at some act of the fowler, when it precipitates itself headlong
into the bush, and is instantly lost to view. It feeds, he further states, on fruits and
insects, and utters a loud moaning note, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, a
hoot. A nearly allied species from Western Africa was described in 1872 as A. con-
stantia.

The last super-family of the Picarie, the MICROPODOIDEA, was originally
founded by Nitzsch, who in his ‘ Macrochires’ only included the swifts and the hum-
ming-birds. It is also synonymous with Garrod’s ‘ Cypscliformes,’ the former basing
his conclusions chiefly upon osteology and pterylography, while the latter also em-
ployed the anatomy of the soft parts. Huxley united them with the goatsuckers in
the group ‘ Cypselomorphe,’ taking chiefly the palatal bones into account; but Parker
has shown that this structure is so different in the three families that it offers no
character which would bind them together to the exclusion of other birds. In this
place we shall only call attention to those characters which at once separate the

436 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

present super-family from the Caprimulgidz. Osteologically the swifts and humming-
birds resemble each other closely in all respects except in the shape of the bones of
theface. The breastbone
is highly characteristic,
having a high keel, and
an entire, unnotched pos-
terior margin. The pro-
portions of the different
sections of the wings are
also noteworthy, the hu-
merus being very short,
the forearm longer, and
the hand extremely long,
whence Nitzsch’s name
of the group. The myo-
logical formula is A+,
unique amongst Picarian
and Passerine birds, and
only shared by the owls.
The tensor patagii brevis
is quite peculiar, no ten-
don being developed, and
the fleshy belly running
on to a special tendon
which springs from the
lower end of the outer surface of the humerus, and is

continued, parallel to the forearm, along the radial
margin to the hand (Fig. 219). As to the visceral an-
atomy we only mention the absence of ceca, concom-
itant with the absence of tuft to the oil-gland, ¢
feature which leads us to the pterylography, in regard
to which we point to the uniquely small number of
secondaries, six to seven.

From all this it is evident that the swifts and hum-
ming-birds are very closely allied, notwithstanding the
extreme specialization of the facial part of the head

‘in two opposite directions. The swifts have the
mouth split to beneath the eyes, and the bill is ex-
tremely short, broad at base, and the gape extraordi-
narily wide; the palate is built on the principle of
complete wgithognathism, “the vomerine bones being
grafted upon the nasal wall.” In the humming-birds,
on the other hand, the bill is long and narrow, the

Fig. 218.—Apaloderma narina, African ™OUth not split, consequently the gape also narrow,

trogon: and the palate is, according to Parker, schizognathous,
the vomer being pointed anteriorly, and only tied to the alinasal wall by a fibrous liga-
ment, but not grafted upon it. But even in the palatal structure the relationship
between swifts and humming-birds is manifested by the development of the maxillo-

SWIFTS. 437

palatines of the young, as pointed out by Parker, who says that in the young hum-
ming-birds they agree in general with young Passeres, “but in particular with both
young and adult of that family of birds which has most similarity to them in general
bodily structure, namely, swifts.”
In view of the extreme external ‘isomorphism’ of the swifts and the swallows,
and the remarkable tenacity with which ornithologists have stuck to arrangements
based chiefly upon the external appearance, the comparatively early recognition
of their being totally different on account of their internal structure would be some-
what surprising but for the fact that there are also a number of easy external charac-
ters by which they are at once separated. The swifts, or Microroprp a, and the swal-
lows are, indeed, “only ‘second cousins,’ and more alike
in their habits and mode of dress than in their real nature,”
as will be apparent by the following juxtaposition of their
differences. Externally they may be easily distinguished ;
the swifts by having ten primaries, not more than seven
secondaries, and only ten tail-feathers, while the swallows
have but nine primaries, at least nine secondaries, and
twelve tail-feathers. The swifts have also the dorsal tract
bifureate between the shoulders, while in the swallows it
is simple. Internally they differ in a great number of ;
points, but we shall only mention that the swifts have a or

Fic. 219. — Diagram of the elbow-

pointed manubrial process and no posterior notches to the muscles in a humming-bird (Pata-
gona gigas); muscles with longitudi-

sternum, while the swallows have the manubrium bifur- ™, tendons with transverse lines ;
? a emrl, extensor metacarpi radialis
cate, and the posterior border deeply two-notched; the longus; h, humerus ; sr, secondary
* = remiges; ¢, triceps; tpb, tensor
former have a myological formula A+, the latter AXY-+; _ patagii brevis ; (pd, tensor patagii
md = ongus.
the former are synpelmous, the latter are schizopelmous ;

the former have a peculiar arrangement of the tensor patagii brevis, the latter have

>

the general arrangement of the Passeres, to be explained in the introduction to that
order; the former have a simple syrinx without intrinsic muscles, the latter have a
very specialized syrinx ; the former are without ceca, the swallows possess them, ete.,
the total effect being that the swifts are Picarians, and the swallows are Passeres.

The swifts are found all over the globe, except in the extreme cold regions and in
New Zealand, being most abundant in the tropics of America and the Oriental region,
considerably over fifty species being known altogether. The peculiar structure of the
feet furnishes excellent characters for subdividing the family in two minor groups or
sub-families, the Micropodine and the Cheturine. The latter have the feet nor-
mally constructed with the usual number of phalanges, viz., 2, 3, 4 and 5, while the
true swifts have the number of phalanges of the third and fourth toes reduced to
three, the formula, consequently, being 2, 3, 3,3. At the same time the first toe is
directed more or less forwards or inwards; in other words, the true swifts are pampro-
dactylous. Another feature is that their tarsi are feathered, while the Cheturinz have
them bare.

Regarding the Cheturine as the more generalized type, we are at once confronted
with the pretty tree-swifts (Dendrochelidon) from India and the Malay Archipelago,
which are provided with a feather-crest on the head, and very lengthened outer tail-
feathers. In the same regions, and also in many of the Polynesian islands (one species
even in Madagascar), are found the pigmies of the family, the so-called swiftlets (Col-
localia), inconspicuous looking, dusky-colored birds, but famous as the manufacturers

438 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

of the ‘edible bird’s-nests.’ They breed in deep caves, fastening their gelatinous nests
to the rocky walls. It was formerly the belief that the substance which composed
the nests was digested alge growing on the sea-beach or on the walls of the caves,
mixed with the excretion of the salivary glands, but it seems now certain that it
consists solely of mucus. Mr. H. Pryer, who recently made a visit to the caves of
Gomanton, northern Borneo, situated in a high limestone cliff twelve miles inland
from the head of Sandakan Bay, last year published an interesting account of the
breeding there of Collocalia fuciphaga, from which we select the following: —

“ After a rest, I ascended the cliff about four hundred feet ; the ascent is quite per-
pendicular: in many places ladders are erected, and in others the water-worn surface
of the limestone gives a foothold. At this point I found myself at the mouth of a
cave named Simud Putih, ¢. e., the White Cave; the entrance is about forty feet high,
by sixty feet wide, and descends very steeply, widening out to a great size, and having
a perpendicular unexplored abyss at its furthest point. This cave is used by the nest-
gatherers as their dwelling-place, and at the entrance are their platforms of sticks,
one of which was placed at my disposal by the head man; it is also the cave by which
the great body of the swifts enter.

“At a quarter to six (p.m.) the swifts began to come in to Simud Putih; a few
had been flying in and out all day long, but now they began to pour in, at first in
tens and then in hundreds, until the sound of their wings was like a strong gale of
wind whistling through the rigging of a ship. They continued flying in until after
midnight, as I could still see them flashing by over my head when I went to sleep.
As long as it remained light I found it impossible to catch any with my butterfly-net,
but after dark it was only necessary to wave the net in the air to secure as many as I
wanted. Nevertheless, they must undoubtedly possess wonderful powers of sight to
fly about in the dark in the darkest recesses of their caves, and to return to their
nests, often built in places where no light ever penetrates.

“ Arising before daylight, I witnessed a reversal of the proceedings of the previous
night, the swifts now going out of Simud Putih.

“In this cave I saw the nest-gatherers at work getting in their crop. <A thin
rattan ladder was fixed to the end of along pole and wedged against the rock; two
men were on the ladder, one carried a long four-pronged spear, a lighted candle being
fixed to it a few inches below the prongs. By the aid of this light a suitable nest is
found, and transfixed with the prongs; a slight twist detaches the nest unbroken from
the rock; the spear is then withdrawn until the head is within reach of the second
man, who takes the nest off the prongs and places it in a pouch carried at the waist.
The nests of best quality are bound up into packets with strips of rattan, the inferior
being simply threaded together; the best packets generally weigh one catty (14 lbs.),
averaging forty nests, and are sold at $9 each, the annual value of the nests gathered
being about $25,000. These caves have been worked for seven generations without
any diminution in the quantity; three crops are taken during the year.”

Mr. J. R. Green, of the Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge, Eng., reported on
the nests collected as follows : —

“The specimen gave no evidence under the microscope of any distinct vegetable
structures, and similarly gave no chemical evidence of either cellulose or any other
distinctly vegetable product. All the relations went to prove that the great mass of
the substance was mucin, and such microscopic features as were apparent confirmed
the view that the nest was formed of strings of mucus plastered together. The

SWIFTS. 439

mucus, when separated out, gave some reactions different to a certain extent from
those which are given by ordinary mucin; but these differences were not great
enough to weaken the conclusion that the nest is really composed of mucus secreted
by the peculiar glands superficially described by Sir Everard Home as present in the
bird which builds the nest.”

Another group of this same sub-family have the tail-feathers rigid; and in some,
as, for instance, our common chimney-swift (Chetura pelagica), the ends of the
shafts protrude beyond the end of the rectrices as so many spines. I need not dwell
on the well-known facts of the change of habits in these birds since the white man
took possession of this continent: how they in a great measure gave up the hollow
trees as roosting and nesting places, choosing his sooty chimneys as more accessible
and possibly more convenient, though to me personally it was a novel sight when a
few years ago a good friend of mine on a pleasant evening took me out in the country
to an old brick-yard, where hundreds of swifts circled around the high chimney, one
after the other dropping into the opening, as may-flies into an electric lamp. The
chimney-swift, or chimney-swallow, as it is often, but erroneously, called, is, like all
swifts in temperate climates, a regular migrant, which passes the winter in Mexico.
There is, therefore, no necessity for supposing ‘that it hibernates in hollow trees,” or
in the mud beneath ponds, as is often asserted. Swallows and swifts may occasionally
be found in a torpid state, but the same is the case with all other kinds of birds, and
even with man, for that matter; but from such an occasional, exceptional, and proba-
bly pathological case to conclude that the swiftest birds on the wing, which with the
greatest ease in a few days can travel from the Arctic circle to a tropical climate,
regularly hibernate in hollow trees “is preposterous,” as an esteemed contemporary
has put it. Juridical evidence may perhaps be adduced to the effect that swallows
hibernate in the mud or on the bottom of Jakes; but how many hundred old women
have not been burned to death as witches on juridical evidence!
Nor has anybody yet succeeded in introducing the ghost into the
zoological system, although we might produce juridical evidence in
confirmation of his existence.

Remarkable as is the nidification of the swiftlets and the chim-
ney-swifts, that of some of the true swifts (Micropodinz) is not
less wonderful. Messrs. Godman and Salvin describe the nest of
Panyptila sancti-hieronymi, which they discovered in Guatemala,
as composed entirely of the seeds of a plant, secured together and
hung from the under surface of an overhanging rock by the saliva
of the bird. The whole forms a tube two feet and two inches
long by about six inches in diameter. The entrance is through the
lower end of the tube, and the eggs are placed on a kind of shelf p44. 900. — section of
at the top. About the middle of the tube, on the external side, is eee
a protruding eave, as if overyaulting an entrance; but there is no
hole, and it has the appearance as if it was placed there on purpose in order to deceive
some enemy, such as a snake or lizard, to the attacks of which the parent bird or its
offspring would, during the time of incubation, be more exposed. A section of the
nest is given in the accompanying cut.

The genus to which the foregoing species belongs have the first (hind) toe turned
inwards. In the typical, or, rather, most specialized swifts, Micropus (or Cypselus), it
is directed forwards like the other toes. Both birds represented in the accompany-

440 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

ing cut belong here, and are two well-known European species, the Alpine swift
(M. melba), larger, brownish gray, whitish beneath with a dusky gorget, from the
southern parts, and the common swift (JL apus), sooty black all over, except the
whitish throat, of more general distribution. It nests under the tiles of the roofs or
in chureh-steeples, and makes itself very conspicuous in the evening by circling and
hawking around the building in small troops, keeping up an incessant and penetrating
scream as they pass by with incredible rapidity of flight. The North American white-
throated swift (JZ melanoleucus) is nearly allied.

FiG. 221. — Micropus melba, Alpine swift (upper figure); M. apus, common European swift (lower figure).

There is found in tropical America a group of small swifts, outwardly resembling
the swiftlets very much, but so closely allied to the above that a separate generic
name ( Zachornis) is now thought to be superfluous. A member of this group is the
Jamaican palm-swift (Micropus phenicobia), which we mention specially for its
interesting nest-building. Gosse describes namely two entirely different nests of this
bird according to whether they build in a cocoanut palm or a palmetto. In the
former case they were formed chiefly in the hollow spathes of the leaves, and were

HUMMING-BIRDS. 441

placed in a series of three or four in a spathe, one above another, and agglutinated
together, but with a kind of gallery along the side, communicating with each. The
material seemed only feathers and silk-cotton (the down of the Bombax); the former
very largely used, the most downy placed within, the cotton principally without, the
whole felted so strongly as to be almost as tenacious as cloth. On the palmetto leaf,
instead of the hollow of a spathe, they were attached to the plaited surface of the
fronds. They were composed almost exclusively of the silk-cotton, and in the form
of those watch-fobs which are hung at the head of the bed, the backs being firmly glued
by saliva to the under surface of the fronds. Lronuarp STEJNEGER.

The humming-birds, solely found in the New World, are most abundant in South
and Central America, with a few species extending into North America as far as
Nootka Sound and Canada. The family Trocutm cannot be divided into any sub-
families, as no genera are so essentially different from all the rest as to require them to
be separated in such a radical manner. ‘ Hummers,’ as they are often called, are Pica-
rian birds, having but one carotid artery, — the left, —a naked oil-gland, and no cwea.
They have small, sometimes minute, bodies, with bills varying from feeble to stout,
usually longer than the head, in one instance exceeding the body in length, usually
straight, but in one group it is curved to a third of a circle, with a short gape, and no
bristles. Nostrils are placed near the base of the maxilla, and are covered by a scale,
though sometimes they are hidden in the frontal feathers. The tongue, which is very
slender, and capable of great extension, curves around and over the back of the skull,
similarly to a wood-pecker’s, and consists of two minute parallel tubes, through which
the sweetened juices of flowers are drawn into the throat. The wings are narrow and
pointed ; the primaries, always ten in number, are stiff and lengthened, the second-
aries very short. The manus is very long, and the humerus extremely short, which
enables the bird to move the wing with great rapidity. Sternum large with a very
deep keel, pectoral muscles in consequence very powerful for the size of the bird.
The tail always possesses ten rectrices, except in Loddigesia mirabilis which has but
four. The tarsi are short, either naked, partly clothed, or hidden in tufts of feathers.
The feet are small with short toes, and curved sharp claws. The plumage varies from
plain sombre tints to the most brilliant metallic hues that it is possible to conceive.
In all cases the male is the one most attractively adorned.

The food was at one time supposed to consist solely of the nectar obtained from
flowers, and at times, or during certain seasons of the year, this may be the case, but
it has been fully ascertained that various kinds of insects also form a large propor-
tion of their sustenance, and some genera feed almost entirely upon insects. The
probability is that these fairy creatures require both insect food and the juices of
flowers, and these are partaken of equally whenever the opportunity to obtain them
presents itself. The flight of these birds is usually of great swiftness; the wings
moye with such rapidity that they are invisible, each wing working a half circle.
Some species, like Patagona gigas and Pterophanes temminckii, move their wings,
when hovering over a flower, with a slow motion, evincing considerable power. At
this time the tail is closed and expanded with a motion like a fan. They are capable
of making most astonishing aérial evolutions, darting in every direction with the speed
of light, arresting their course instantaneously at will.

Nearly all humming-birds are exceedingly quarrelsome in disposition, both during
the breeding season and other times as well. Some will not permit others to remain

442 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

in the same vicinity, nor touch a flower on the tree on which they are perched, and
the smallest species does not hesitate to attack those of the largest size, hawks even
having been driven quite away by the furious attacks of one of these irascible little
creatures. The general sound emitted by humming-birds is a sharp shrill twit or
cry, but some species possess a few notes almost attaining to the dignity of a song.
The little Mellisuga minima is stated to sing very sweetly, and a diminutive Pha-
thornis is also said to have the same accomplishment. These birds, in certain districts
of South America, have regular migrations from north to south, and vice versa, also
from higher to lower altitudes, caused mainly by the blooming and fading of the
flowers, as it is apparently necessary for their existence that they should live always
in the midst of blossoming plants. In the early spring the species inhabiting high
latitudes descend to meet the blooming of the plants, returning to their more lofty
abodes as summer advances. As a rule humming-birds appear to be devoid of fear.
They will fly within a few inches of a person’s face, stop and peer at him, approaching
so close as to fan one with their wings. Frequently they will enter a house through the
open window, and after flying around until wearied will alight on any conyenient
perch, and prune their feathers; or if taken in the hand will immediately feed upon
any sweet that may be offered them, without exhibiting the slightest fear. In this
respect they in no way resemble birds, acting more like insects.

The nests of these beautiful creatures are wonderful structures, and exhibit great
variety of form and of the materials used in building. Some are not larger than
walnut shells. They are generally shaped like a cup, lined with some soft material
such as hair or wool, and much diversity of taste is shown in the mode of decoration
placed upon the exterior; these ornaments, consisting of lichens, bark, moss, ete.,
being usually attached by means of cobwebs. These nests are placed in all manner
of situations, on slender twigs, or on the bifurcation of a branch; some attached to
the side of a drooping leaf; while others again suspend themselves to the sides of rocks.
The members of the genus Oreotrochilus build quite large nests, composed of wool,
hair, moss and feathers, and make in the top of this a small depression in which the
eggs are laid. One of these great nests was found by Professor Jameson of Quito
in a room of a deserted house, attached to a rope suspended from the roof. A curious
evidence of instinct shown by these birds, is witnessed in these nests, where one side
having proved to be lighter than the other, it was weighted by a small stone or piece
of earth, until the equilibrium was restored and all danger of the eggs falling out
was removed.

In our limits it is quite impossible to give more than the most cursory review of
the more prominent birds composing this family. About four hundred species are
acknowledged at the present time, contained in one hundred and twenty genera. The
classification of these, is, of necessity, largely artificial.

Beginning at the bottom, or with those species usually assigned to that place, we
commence our review of the family with the minute species generally known as the
‘green hummers.’ In this group is comprised the genera Panychlora, Chlorostilbon,
Sporadinus and Cyanophaia. The species inhabit Mexico, Central America, various
portions of South America, and some islands of the West Indies such as Haiti and
Puerto Rico. They are very small, being from two and three quarters to four and a
half inches in extreme length. Their plumage is shining, brilliant green, in some
species, with golden-bronze reflections, the tail short and usually even, except in
Chiorostilbon auriceps and the species of Sporadinus and Cyanophaia which have

HUMMING-BIRDS. 443

forked tails. Cyanophaia ceruleigularis differs somewhat from others in this group
of genera by having a violet-blue throat and cheek. About eighteen species are
included in the four genera named.

The next four genera are composed of species clothed in blue and metallic green.
They are Hylocharis, Iache, Damophila and Juliamyia, and are represented in
Mexico, Central America, and portions of South America. Lylocharis cyanea from
Brazil, with the head, throat, and breast shining dark blue with violet reflections,
builds a most beautiful nest, which is attached to a tendril of some vine, and is eup-
shaped and composed of a white, cottony, substance, intermingled with seeds of
thistle-down, coated with dried leaves and bound together with cobwebs, all decorated
with woody fibres, inner coating of bark of trees, and other materials. These nests,
however, are not always alike, seemingly the fancy of each individual builder haying
much to do with the choice of materials for the construction and adornment of these
fairy dwellings. The eggs are always two; and pure white, as is the case with all
species of humming-birds. Another allied species, HZ. sapphirina has a remarkable
red-colored fleshy bill much dilated at the base.

Three genera, Timolia, Eucephala, and Basilinna, with twelve species, have
metallic green and blue plumage, the females very differently clothed from the males,
as is indeed the case with those of most of the species belonging to the genera thus far
enumerated. Perhaps the finest species of the three genera mentioned is Hucephala
gray, with the whole head and chin shining deep blue, rest of body golden green.
It comes from Ecuador. Amazilia has twenty-five species, birds of various styles of
plumage. Some have breast of metallic hues, others have this part plain rufous ;
some haye red backs, while others again have the abdomen pure white. They are
natives of Mexico, Central America, res Marias Island, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru,
one species, A. niveiventris, having been procured in Panama. Two species from
Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the islands of Tres Marias, A. cinmamomea and A. yraysoni
differ from all the rest by having the entire under surface bright cinnamon color.

The genus Polytmus, with three species, stands somewhat isolated among the Tro-
chilide. Their tails are rounded, with narrow, somewhat pointed, rectrices ; entirely
metallic green in two species; in the other, with basal portion white. They are seat-
tered throughout South America. The two species of Hlvira have the greater portion
of the tail white, —a very unusual feature among the Trochilide. Argytria is one
of the most extensive genera, as regards the number of species, in the family. They
are birds of moderate size and of a pleasing plumage, the chief colors of which are
green and white. Uranomitra has some species with very brilliant metallic green and
blue hues upon the head and upper surface, and also certain ones possess bright red
bills. The genus Panterpe contains one very beautiful species, P. insignis, from
Costa Rica and Chiriqui. With the crown and breast rich blue, the throat is metallic
scarlet, bordered with luminous yellowish green. It is one of the most brilliant birds
of this portion of the family.

The genus Eriocnemis, with about eighteen species, is remarkable for the color-
ing of the lower part of the back in the different species, and the downy puffs which
cover and completely conceal the tarsi, sometimes the entire feet. The metallic colors
are golden-green, blue, bronze, and others of similar brilliancy, while the general hues
of the species are dark gray, green, coppery-red, and purplish-black. The downy
puffs on the legs are black, white, pale buff, or brown and white. The species are of
moderate size, rather robust form, with straight, strong bills, and long wings. A very

444 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

curious group is contained in the genus Aglwactis. Of rather large size, these birds
have a coloration similarly distributed to that of the species of Eriocnemis, but the
manner of exhibiting this is different. The feathers of the rump are highly luminous,
but in order to see the full beauty of these hues, it is necessary to look against the
feathers, or towards the head, when the brilliancy of the metallic sheen is seen to the
best advantage. There are four species from the western part of South America,
from Colombia to Bolivia. The females resemble the males, as do those of the genus
Friocnemis, but have very much less brillianey on their plumage.

Cephalolepis and Bellona contain species with more or less lengthened crests, to
which the metallic hues of the plumage are confined, there being none upon the lower
part of the body. The crests of the two genera differ much in shape, that of the spe-
cies of Cephalolepis being long, rather loose, and terminating in from one to three nar-
row feathers extending beyond the rest. That of Bellona is broad and pointed, of
moderate length, and the feathers of the forehead project forward and cover one half
the length of the culmen. The species of this genus are natives of the West Indies.
Chrysolampis moschitus is the ruby and topaz humming-bird, so called from the bril-
liant metallic hues of the top of the head and throat. Like the species of Bellona, the
feathers of the forehead project over the culmen, and the male possesses all the beauty
of plumage, the female being a plainly dressed, quiet-looking little bird. The species
is of considerable commercial importance, thousands being shipped to Europe and
other countries every year, giving employment to numbers of the inhabitants of its
native land. It makes a round, cup-shaped nest, of some cottony materials, and dec-
orated with leaves and lichens. It perches occasionally on the flowering shrubs it
frequents, and spreads its rounded, chestnut-colored tail to its fullest extent, and then
appears to the greatest advantage.

Three species of humming-birds, of rather large size and most graceful form, are
included in the genus /eliothrix, distinguished by their slender, wedge-shaped bills,
plumage of green and white hues, and metallic-blue tufts on the sides of the neck.
There is not much difference in the coloring of the sexes, but when any does exist, it
consists in the absence of metallic coloring on the female’s throat. The rectrices,
which are rounded, are quite long, always shortest, however, in the male. The
species dwell in Central and South America generally. Z/eliothrix auriculatus, from
southern Brazil, and a bird of a powerful and rapid flight, evinces a preference
for the flowers of the orange-trees, which doubtless furnish it with its insect food.
The nest, which is of an elongated shape, is built of fine vegetable fibres, and coated
externally with small pieces of various colored barks, and attached by one side to some
twig. Like in other species, the materials composing the nest are not always of the
same kind, the bird apparently taking that which is most convenient and adapted for
the purpose.

The genera Schistes, Phlogophilus, Augastes, Chrysuronia, Metallura, and Avocet-
tula contain about twenty-one species, resembling each other in the bright metallic
coloration of their rectrices, though differing in other important respects. Schistes
contains but two species, confined to Ecuador, one (8. personatus) having been pro-
cured upon the sides of Mount Pichincha, six thousand feet above the sea. It has the
forehead, face, and throat metallic green, with lilac-blue tufts on either side of the
breast. The members of Azgastes are more brilliant birds than are those of the last
genus, A. lumachellus being particularly beautiful. It has the top of head, ear-coverts,
and a line outside of throat velvety black; forehead, face and throat luminous golden

HUMMING-BIRDS. 445

green, bounded beneath by greenish blue, below which is a tuft of metallic reddish or-
ange, each side of which is a white bar; tail, metallic bronze-red, very brilliant. The
members of Metallura are dispersed over the mountains of the great Andean range,
from Colombia to Bolivia. One of the commonest and best known, J/. tyrianthina, is
scattered over the mountains and valleys of New Grenada and Ecuador, and feeds upon
the insects found in all the different flowers and plants of those countries. It bears
the cold well, is not sociable, has a rapid flight, and makes its nest in ravines and spots
shaded from the sun and rain. The sexes differ much in hue of plumage. The
male is not of very generally brilliant plumage, though it has a luminous throat, but
the tail shines with metallic purple-bronze; this is also possessed by the female, though
lighter in hue. Avocettula has but one species, a native of Guiana, but remarkable
for the bill, which is turned upward at the point, like an avocet’s. In this respect it
agrees with Avocettinus, but it also possesses a tail of fiery copper-red, resembling in
this character the members of those genera with which it is grouped. Not much is
known of this curious bird, but it is said to live isolated in the great forests. Swainson
suggested as a cause for the curiously formed bill that the bird’s principal sustenance
may be drawn from the pendant Bignonie and similar plants, whose corollas are long
and generally bent in their tubes; the nectar, being at the bottom, could not be read-
ily reached either by a straight or incurved bill, though very easily by one cor-
responding to the shape of the flower. It is not a common species, and but few
examples comparatively have been procured.

Rhamphomicron and Oreonympha comprise a group of humming-birds remarkable
for the pendant metallic feathers, denominated ‘beards, beneath the throat. They
are birds of rather large size, without crests, with short and feeble bills in most of the
species, and constitute a well-marked section of the Trochilide. They are found from
Colombia to Bolivia, one species, 2. stanley’, dwelling (among other localities) in the
crater of Pichincha, where it rifles the flowers of the Chiguiraga insignis, and con-
tinually battles with its far more attractive rival, Oreotrochilus pichincha. It is a
very sombre-plumaged bird, with the upper surface bluish violet; beneath, sooty
brown, and tail, bluish green; throat, metallic green, terminating in lengthened ame-
thyst-colored feathers. A far more beautiful species is 2. herrani, a native of Colom-
bia and Eeuador. It remains motionless usually during the day, flying in the early
mornings and evenings, is peacefully inclined, but is frequently pursued and attacked
by other species of humming-birds that are in its vicinity. It makes short flights from
branch to branch, and explores the flowers to obtain its insect food. This beautiful bird
has the crown rusty-red; chin, luminous metallic-green ; beneath this are elongated me-
tallic-red feathers, bounded on either side with black. The upper surface is bronzy
green; rump, bronzy rufous; tail, purplish black; lateral feathers tipped with white.
Oreonympha nobilis is a magnificent species, about seven inches in length, with a long,
somewhat stout bill. It has forehead and centre of crown black; top of head dark
blue; cheeks and sides of throat black; throat colored similarly to the species of
Rhamphomicron, but the pendant feathers are longer. The upper surface is bronzy
brown; under surface, grayish white; the tail, bronze, except the external feathers,
which are white. This species was first obtained at Tinta in Peru, at an elevation of
11,500 feet. The flight of this beautiful bird is stated to be very peculiar. It starts
from one flower in the direction of another some two or three hundred yards away,
when suddenly it comes to a stop, throws up the body vertically, the tail being spread
out, and exhibits the metallic crown and beard glistening in the sun’s rays. This

446 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

action, which is often repeated, is probably effected for the purpose of taking insects
in the air.

The genus Sappho contains species the magnificence of whose plumage cannot be
described by words and is very inadequately exhibited by the best colored represen-
tation. They are known by the common name of ‘fire-tails, and are natives of Peru,
Bolivia, and the Argentine Republic. The tails of the males blaze with the radiance
of flashes of flame, and their ruby backs, luminous green throats, and under surface

present a tout ensemble unparalleled in the range of Ornithology, not even excepting
the gorgeously attired species of the birds-of-paradise. S. sparganura, the longest
known species, is a denizen of Bolivia and the Argentine Republic. It appears when
the fruit trees are in blossom, and particularly resorts to the Capuli, a kind of cherry.
It frequents the fields of maize, pulse, and other leguminous plants, and the rich
flowers of the cacti which afford them abundant food. It is by no means shy, and the
males are constantly warring with and chasing each other, uttering sharp cries. It is
a very pugnacious species, and each individual resents the intrusion of another within

HUMMING-BIRDS. 447

its chosen territory. The nest is about two and a half to three inches in length, com-
posed outwardly of interlaced vegetable fibres, twigs, moss, etc., and lined with soft
hair, ete. It is placed in some gully, and attached to any hanging root or twig that
will afford it support. The eggs are oblong in shape, and pure white. When on the
wing, this bird makes extraordinary turns and rapid evolutions, at one moment darting
headlong into a flower, at another describing circles in the air with such rapidity that
the eye is unable to follow it. The female is less brilliant in plumage, but has a tail
of metallic colors, save the external feather which is white on the outer web. ‘Total
length of males six and three quarters inches.

Next to Sappho comes Cynanthus, with two species, also having lengthened tails
adorned with metallic hues, but less showy, for the colors are blue and green instead
of brilliant red and black.

Lesbia possesses four species, with very long rectrices of rather narrow but even
width for their entire length, and having generally a luminous tip. All the species
have metallic green throats, and differ from each other in size and in the length and
coloration of their tails. The females are very different in appearance, having white
breasts spangled with green, and comparatively short tails. The best and longest
known species is Z. amaryllis, from Colombia and Ecuador. It frequents the gar-
dens in the city of Quito, and is familiar to every one, and is equally common at
Bogota. When poised in the air, with tail outspread over a flower it makes a loud
humming noise. The males are very pugnacious and frequent combats take place
between them, and these are persisted in with great energy until one is driven away.

One of the most extraordinary birds known to naturalists, the wonderful Loddige-
sia mirabilis, is remarkable for having only four rectrices, the two median ones very
short, and entirely hidden by the coverts. The outer ones are greatly lengthened,
some three or four times the extent of the body without the bill, the shafts destitute
of webs until the tips are reached, when they terminate in large indigo-colored spat-
ules. These rectrices are curved throughout their entire length into a semi-circle, so
that in the natural position of the tail they cross each other twice; at first near their
base, and then, at about a third of their length, the remaining portion takes a direction
directly across the axis of the bird’s body. The under tail-coverts are long, but the
two middle feathers are much longer than the body of the bird, gradually diminish in
width, and terminate in a point. This structure of the tail is absolutely unique among
birds. This species was first procured by an English botanist, Andrew Matthews,
fifty years ago at Chachapoyas in Peru, and the specimen remained unique until the
year 1881, when M. Stolzmann procured a series of examples in the vicinity of the
same place from which the type originally came, but the birds appeared to be localized
in the basin of the Uteubamba, a little river on the right bank of the Marafion. It is
found only at an altitude between 7500 and 9000 feet above the ocean. The country
inhabited by this extraordinary bird is covered with cultivated fields, small valleys
with more or less vegetation, and here and there large trees, the probable remnants of
ancient forests. A beautiful red-colored Alstromeria is the favorite flower of this
bird, and wherever this is met with the Zoddigesia is sure to be found, and as the
Lesbia gracilis, its chief persecutor, does not visit this flower, the present species can
rest unmolested. Even in the localities it frequents this bird is not common, the
adult males rather rare. From morning to night it is in constant motion; its flight is
inconceiyably rapid, and it is remarkable with what unerring precision it traverses the
thickets where it is obliged to change its course almost every second to escape from

448 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the obstacles in its route. When it flies, the lateral tail-feathers are raised, and the
two spatules are brought together. A curious habit of this species is the following.
Two young males arrest themselves in the air facing each other with their bodies sus-
pended vertically, opening their tails from side to side, so that the lengthened ree-
trices form a straight line to the axis of the body, and throw themselves from one side
to the other. [very time the birds open their tails a low sound is heard similar to
that caused by striking two finger-nails together, or the snap produced by shutting
the lid of a watch. The two lengthened under tail-coverts always remain in their
normal position. This mancuvre is kept up for about twenty seconds. Ordinarily
only two young males engage in these actions, but when they make much noise sev-
eral take part, and always the voice of the female can be heard in the vicinity.
Another still more curious habit, as narrated by Stolzmann, was practised by the
young males. One would suspend himself beneath a small branch, whilst another
mancuvred above him, spreading the tail and making the low click; then in a twink-
ling of an eye, the réles would be changed and the upper would suspend himself, and
the other would take his place. What these evolutions mean is unknown. The adult
males rarely practise them, though they often pass when the young males are engaged
in this manner. Sometimes the old males by spreading the tail give a peculiar posi-
tion to the external rectrices by placing the spatules above the head. Once Stolzmann
observed an adult male drinking from a brook. He had chosen a little cascade, and it
is from these alone that it is pretended the birds are able to quench their thirst.
The male of this extraordinary species has the crown of the head a brilliant sapphire
blue ; upper parts golden green; throat brilliant green, tinged with blue in the centre,
and surrounded by a narrow band of coppery-red, this bordered by black; sides of
breast and flanks dull white; middle of breast velvet black with a coppery tinge.
The lengthened under tail-coverts are bronze green on their basal half, passing into a
blackish-blue, and white at their tips. Bill, black; feet, brown; tarsus covered with
white feathers; iris, nearly black.

The genera Steganura and Discura have together seven species, birds with lumi-
nous throats and breasts, and elongated external rectrices bare of webs near the tips,
and terminating in a spatule. The members of the first genus also have the tarsi
completely hidden in downy puffs. They dwell in various parts of South America,
all but two, however, being natives of the western side from Columbia to Bolivia.
Steganura solstitialis, from Ecuador and Peru, is found at altitudes of from 3700 to
8000 feet above the sea level. It is easy to be distinguished from other humming-
birds by its voice, as it possesses certain harmonious notes. It has a steady flight, and
does not precipitate itself from flower to flower with the suddenness so characteristic
of some of its relatives. When resting it perches on low branches, but when flying
it frequently rises to such a height that it is difficult to see it.

Gouldia contains four species, remarkable for their singularly shaped tails, which
are composed of lengthened attenuated feathers, the three outer ones on either side
being the longest, although very unequal, and the four median ones being so short as
to be hardly visible. G. letiti@ is, in the coloring of its plumage, almost exactly like
Discura longicauda, but does not possess the spatules at the end of the external rectri-
ces. They are most charming little creatures, the heads and breasts covered with
metallic green feathers, this, in one species, bordered with red beneath the green on the
breast; and G. popelairii, from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, has the head ornamented
with a crest terminating in lengthened, hair-like feathers.

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htae ut aot

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PN4SO Uvoloury YoY ‘npuvu ‘znaqsoav ‘pays DaYyy

lotus, piculet.

ic

lep

Picumnus

Picoides tridactylus, three-toed woodpecker.

Late)

— =

Rupicola rupicola, cock-of-the-rock.

BIRDS-OF-PARADISE.

1. Paradisea apoda, great bird-of-Paradise; 2. Parotia sefilata, six-shafted bird-of-Paradise;
3. Cicinnurus regius, king bird-of-Paradise.

Coturnix communis, migrating quail.

WR) SSS ws SSss

Agrobates galactotes, rufous warbler, and Sylvia orphea, Orphean warbler.

Gyanecula suecica, blue-throat, and Melodes calliope, Kamtschatkan nightingale.

HUMMING-BIRDS. 449

The species of the genus Zophornis are also small birds, with a highly ornamented
plumage, and have elongated feathers with metallic tips, springing from the sides of
the neck. Some also are adorned with crests, and all save two have metallic throats.
There are nine known species of this genus, and they bear the common name of ‘Co-
quettes.’ They are found in Central America, Trinidad, and northern and western
South America. The most beautiful of these birds, if one can discriminate where all
possess so many attractions, is probably Z. helene, from Mexico, Gautemala, and Costa
Rica. Beside a dark metallic green crest, there are three long, slender, greenish-black
feathers springing from either side of the occiput. The throat is metallic green sur-
rounded with black, the feathers on the sides of the neck elongated and streaked with
buff. Another beautiful but very differently colored species is Z. ornatus, from Trin-
idad, Venezuela, and Guiana. It has the forehead and throat metallic green, rest of
head and crest chestnut, unspotted. On either side of the neck is a series of length-
ened graduated feathers, each one tipped with metallic green. This bird seeks its
food from the flowers in more open parts of the country than in forests, and builds a
round, cup-shaped nest, composed of some cottony material, bound together with cob-
webs, and decorated externally with mosses, lichens, ete.

Tilmatura contains only one species, with a remarkably-colored forked tail. This
has the median rectrices short, and shining green; next one, dark brown; next, also,
dark brown, but with a white spot on inner web, and a white tip; the remainder is
dark brown at base, then a band of rufous, then one of white, sueceeded by another
of dark brown, and the tips white. This bird is a native of Guatemala, frequents the
gardens and other places where flowers abound, and builds a beautiful little round
nest of vegetable fibres and thistle-down, thickly covered externally with small pieces
of lichens, attached by means of cobwebs. It is fastened to any small branch, such as
that of a rose-tree, etc.

Cheetocercus, Acestrura, and Calothorax are represented by species, some of which
are among the most minute in the Trochilide. They have very peculiarly shaped
tails. Those of the members of the first genus have the median rectrices extremely
short; two next the outermost ones lengthened, equal and uniform; outermost one
half the length of the one next it, filiform and stiff, graduating to a point. Acestrura
has the two outer rectrices almost bare of webs, and spine-shape; while the species of
Calothorax has the outermost rectrix of a similar shape. There are about nine spe-
cies in these genera, natives of Mexico and the northern and western side of South
America. Chetocercus bombus, two and a half inches in length, is not much larger
than a honey-bee. It is a native of Ecuador and Peru, dwells at an elevation of from
five to nine thousand feet, flies in a straight line but not so rapidly as some other hum-
ming-birds, and when perched on a branch elevates and depresses the tail as if balanc-
ing itself. The males have frequent combats, and sometimes one will mount upwards
until its tiny body has completely disappeared from sight.

Heliactin, with its single species, cornutus, is an aberrant form among the Tro-
chilidse, and is chiefly noticeable for the brilliant tufts or ‘horns’ on each side of the
head. It is a native of Brazil, and, although long since described, very little is known
of its habits. The ‘tufts’ are fiery crimson at base, changing to greenish yellow at
the tips, very brilliant in color, and a great ornament to the bird.

We now come to a section of the Trochilidz composed of the genera Stellula, At
this, Catharma, Selasphorus, Calypte, and Trochilus. They are all birds of moderate
or small size, all with brilliant metallic coloring on their throats, this sometimes ex-

VOL. Iv. —29

450 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

tending to and including the head. They have short tails and bills, and in general
appearance are most attractive birds. Selasphorus rufus, from California to Nootka
Sound; Calypte# anne, from Mexico and California; and Zrochilus colubris, the
Ruby-throat, of eastern North America, south to Central America and the West In-
dies, are probably the best known among the species. A charming species is Calypte
helene, from Cuba. The entire head and throat with its lengthened feathers are bril-
liant metallic crimson, and the tail deep greenish blue, as are also the upper parts ;

Fic. 223. — Helactin cornutus, horned hummer, sun-gem.

under surface white. This little gem, of only about two and a half inches in total
length, has a varied song, well sustained, and, for the size of the little creature, rather
powerful. It has not a rapid flight, is very pugnacious, and when in the air preserves
a complete silence, but commences to sing on alighting.

Mellisuga minima, from Jamaica and St. Domingo, is among the very smallest of
birds, being only a little over two inches in total length. This diminutive creature is
rather plainly attired, being green above, and white beneath. It is quite abundant in
Jamaica, resorting to the blossoms of the West Indian vervain, seeking its nourish-

HUMMING-BIRDS. 451

ment precisely in the same manner as the honey-bee. In the spring months soon after
sunrise it sits on the top of a mango or orange tree, and warbles a melody in a weak
but sweet tone, for minutes at atime. The nest is a cup, formed of silk cotton, orna-
mented outside with gray lichen. ‘The movements of this bird’s wings in flight are so
rapid that they produce a sound like an insect’s hum. Zhalwrania contains eleven
species of moderate size and graceful forms, with a plumage of green or green and
blue, with metallic hues on the crown and throat, and sometimes on both. They have
a wide distribution from Central America to Peru.

Fia. 224. — Topaza pella, topaz humming-bird.

Aithurus contains a very singular species from Jamaica, A. polytmus. It is one
of the longest known members of the family, and is conspicuous from the fact that the
lateral rectrices next to the outermost one on either side are nearly three times longer
than the other feathers, and are curved, and cross each other near their centre. The
head also has a somewhat lengthened black crest. It is very common in Jamaica,
where considerable numbers may be seen at one time performing their aerial evolu-
tions, chasing each other, or feeding from the various flowers. They do not always
probe these when on the wing, but may be seen thus engaged when sitting near them
on the branch. The nest is composed of silk cotton, the outside quite covered with
spider’s webs, and bits of lichens and bark stuck in here and there. The eggs are oval

452 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

and when fresh have a reddish tinge from the thinness of the shells. The general
color of the plumage is green, from a dark shade to lustrous emerald.

Topaza contains two gorgeously colored large species with peculiarly formed tails,
which are rounded, the feathers on either side of central pair narrow and elongated
far beyond the rest, and crossing each other. 7. pella, an inhabitant of Cayenne,
Trinidad, and Brazil, is something of a recluse, dwelling in the heart of the forest
near to rivers or lonely and dark creeks. He comes out of his retreat before sunrise,
but returns as soon as the bright rays have lit up the landscape, coming out again just
after sunset. The nest is deep, of a cup-shape, formed of a kind of fungus resembling
tinder, and united by cobwebs or similar material. The male is very beautiful, having
the back shining red changing to orange-red on the rump; the throat metallic green-
ish-yellow with a topaz hue in the centre ; the rest of lower parts are shining crimson ;
upper tail-coverts light bronze-green; the under covyerts golden-green; middle rec-
trices bronze-green, next two dark purple, remainder reddish-bufi; the head, bill,
lores, and line encircling the throat, black. The genus Zustephanus contains three
species, from Chili and the islands of Juan Fernandez and Masafuera. They are large
birds, the metallic hues of their plumage being confined to the top of the heads. In
two species the females possess an entirely different dress, and from the fact that their
crowns were also metallic, for a long time it was supposed they represented distinct
species.

Hemistephania, Bourcieria, Helianthea, and Diphlogena, all contain beautiful
species, some of them being among the most brilliantly colored of the Trochilids.
They are almost all large birds, with long lance-like bills, and for the most part
dressed in shining hues of lustrous metallic colors. ourcieria inca from Peru and
Bolivia may be selected as representing one type of beauty. This lovely species has a
jet-black head, with a luminous metallic emerald-green spot in the forehead, which
shines like a brilliant star in the midst of its sombre surroundings. A broad band of
deep buff crosses the breast and covers the sides of the neck; rest of plumage glittering
metallic grass-green, and bronzy-green, most brilliant in certain lights. The lateral
rectrices are white, tipped with bronzy-green. This bird is found on the eastern slope
of the Andes, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, and resorts to a shrub bearing red wax-
like flowers. It visits every flower in succession, never passing by a single one, is
very conspicuous on the wing, and has a very rapid flight. Beautiful, however, as is
the bird just described, it is far surpassed in the splendor of its decoration by the
Diphlogena iris and D. hesperus from Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. These mar-
vellous creatures have the forehead metallic golden-green, changing to a metallic
orange-scarlet on the sides of the crown, with the centre of the latter metallic-blue ;
occiput velvety-black ; throat and breast glittering grass-green, with a spot of purplish-
blue in the centre. The rest of the plumage is chestnut red. It is almost impossible
to conceive a more exquisitely beautiful bird than are these species. They live at
high altitudes 7000 to 9000 feet, not very rare in certain localities, and visit chiefly a
certain kind of orange flowers or the purple blossoms of Jochroma. Sometimes they
will take up a position upon some dry branch, and launch themselves forth at inter-
vals and catch insects upon the wing. The single species of Docimastes, D. ensif-
erus, is remarkable for the length of the bill, which exceeds that of the entire bird.
The necessity for this is at once understood when the lengthened tubular flowers of
the Brugmansie are seen, from the bottom of which the species procures its food, and
which could never be reached by a short-billed bird. When flying it presents a

HUMMING-BIRDS. 453

curious appearance, the bill being so disproportionately long to the size of the body,
and it stops before a flower as though examining the interior, and then suddenly
thrusts in the long bill, repeating the action at various intervals. It takes long flights,
and other humming-birds keep out of its way, none daring to attack it, afraid prob-
ably of the long bill, which would doubtless make this bird a formidable antagonist. It
is of rather dull plumage, the sides of the breast alone being a bright luminous green.

FiG. 225. — Docimastes ensiferus, sword-billed humming-bird.

Patagona and Pterophanes, containing each a single species, the giants of the Tro-
chilidz, are the largest known forms. They are denizens of the Andean range from
Colombia to Chili. Patagona gigas is the largest species, a dull brownish-colored
bird, not unlike some snipe in general appearance. Its flight resembles somewhat
that of the martin, often, though, keeping the wings immovable. It has a habit of
darting into the air, striking the wings together, and then returning to its place.

454 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Beside a delicate whistle it emits no sound. Pterophanes temminckii has a flight
very similar to the last species, and moves the wings slowly showing the blue coloring
to great effect. It has been observed at elevations of 13,000 to 14,000 feet where
there are no flowers, sweeping along the grass searching for insects. The skin has a
musky smell, strongest when the bird is in the flesh. Once one was observed to
attack a large hawk and drive it away from its feeding grounds.

Heliodoxa, Lampraster, Eugenia, Urochroa, Eugenes, Sternoclyta, Iolema, Clyto-
lema, and Pheolema are a group of genera with species more or less related to each
other. They are generally birds of large size, many of very brilliant coloration, with
rather long stout bills, and, as a rule, with the feathers of the forehead projecting onto
the culmen and covering the nostrils. Jolaema whitelyana is a very fine species with
all the upper surface deep grass-green, and a glittering spot on the forehead. The
under parts are jet black, save a broad band of violet on the throat. It is found at
Cosnipato, Peru, and frequents the flowering plants at the tops of the highest trees in
the depths of the forest, keeping nearly always out of gun-shot. It has a very power-
ful flight, and goes from flower to flower with wonderful rapidity. Another more
beautiful bird is Hugenia imperatrizx, from Ecuador, with the forehead and chin bril-
liant metallic green, upper parts grass-green, exceedingly luminous when viewed from
behind, and a metallic violet spot on the throat. This handsome bird inhabits the
thick forests at about four thousand feet of elevation, and feeds from the beautiful
flowers of an Alstrameria, which hang from the extremity of this twining plant.
The genus Panoplites contains three species clothed in brilliant metallic colors, agree-
ing in having their upper parts green, but their under parts are clothed in strongly
contrasted colors of diverse hues. Perhaps the most brilliant of the species is P.
Jjardini, from Ecuador, with the crown and under parts shining violet blue, and the
upper parts metallic bluish-green. The P. maithewsi is very different, having the
under parts deep chestnut-red, and upper parts metallic golden-green. This is said to
be a most pugnacious species, and when an individual alights upon a tree he will not
permit any other humming-bird to approach the flowers upon it. They hurl them-
selves against each other in the air like cocks, and pursue all others of the tribe in
their vicinity. It is met with as high as 10,000 feet above the sea, and its flight is
short, the bird frequently perching.

Petasophora includes another small group of very different appearance from the
last. Of rather large size, and greatly resembling each other in plumage, the species
are distinguished by their metallic-blue ear-coverts, metallic-green scale-like breasts,
and broad bluish-green barred tails. The 2. anais feeds upon insects which it seizes
in the air, in the most agile manner, snatching them in all directions, executing at the
same time most graceful movements. At times it launches itself into the air from its
perch, sings a short simple song, and returns like an arrow to its original position,
repeating this several times but always returning to this same place. It lives at alti-
tudes varying between 5,000 and 9,000 feet. Two birds with pure white tails tipped
with purplish-brown form the genus Jorisuga. In general form they resemble the
next genus, Chalybura, the members of which differ from all known humming-birds
by the great development of their plume-like under tail-coverts, which peculiarity
exists in both sexes. The males are clothed in green, most luminous on the lower
surface, one species being an exception, and having this part blue. The lower tail-
coverts are white except in one species which has them black. They are natives of
Central America, Venezuela, and Columbia. .

HUMMIMG-BIRDS. 455

The genera HLulampis and Lampornis are closely allied, with green and black
the principal hues of their plumage, sometimes varied with blue, the metallic colors
chiefly confined to the throat and breast. The species of Hulampis in addition to
other characters possess luminous upper tail-coverts causing them to be very con-
spicuous objects. The birds of these genera inhabit Mexico, Central America, W est
India islands, and portions of eastern South America.

Oreotrochilus is a genus of hummers that dwell in lofty altitudes just beneath
the line of perpeptual snow. Some of the species are entirely confined to particular

Fic. 226.— Oreotrochilus chimborazo, Chimborazo humming-bird.

mountains, like O. chimborazo and O. pichincha, which are found upon the vol-
canic peaks whose names they bear and that of Cotopaxi. The last named feeds
frequently from the ground, hunting the moss-coyered clumps for insects, as the snow
melts away. When the plants of those Alpine heights are in bloom, they frequent
the flowers. Another species, O. leucoplewrus, is said to live in the most elevated
Andean yalleys, amid storms of rain, hail, and thunder, in places where a species of
this family would be least expected. It subsists mostly upon insects, small flies chiefly
contributing to its support. They are handsome birds with the under parts white,
deep chestnut, or black, with metallic-colored throats, some with richly colored heads.

456 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The genera Campylopterus, Sphenoproctus and Eupetomana are composed of
species characterized by having the shafts of the primaries more or less developed,
and greatly flattened in the males. The majority of the species have a portion of
their plumage adorned with metallic coloring. The genera are distinguished mainly
by the shape of the tail of the various species, this being rounded, cuneate, or deeply
forked, in the order of the genera named. A very large and showy species is Camz-
pylopterus hemileucurus, with the upper and under surfaces metallic violet-blue, a black
tail glossed with green, the outer feathers largely tipped with white. It is extremely

=o

iS ye
yee | Pes

FiG, 227. — Eutoxeres aquila, sickle-billed humming-bird.

pugnacious, two males rarely meeting without a combat. This generally commences
with a sharp shriek, then, with dilated throats and feathers all on end, they fight until
one falls to the ground or escapes by flight. The chief damage done in these combats
is the splitting of the tongue of one of the contestants, which then surely dies, being
no longer able to feed.

One of the most extensive genera of the Trochilide is Phethornis, embracing
about twenty-two species. The majority of these are plainly attired without any
metallic coloring, and all are chiefly remarkable for their peculiarly shaped tails, the
middle feathers of which extend beyond the rest, and are always longest in the

HUMMING-BIRDS. 457

females. The plumage consists of green, gray, buff, or whitish, and the species for
the most part dwell in dark and gloomy situations in the interior of the forests, feed-
ing upon spiders and other insects which they capture on the under side of the leaves
of great trees, or in the crevices of the bark. Their movements on the wing are
very graceful, the beautifully formed tail being exhibited to much advantage.

The birds of the genus Hutoxeres are distinguished for their very remarkable
bills, which are decurved so as to form nearly one third of a circle. They are of
rather large size, with very little metallic coloring, the plumage being of usually
sombre hues, the throat and breast striated with buff. The tail is cuneate, with
pointed feathers. The unusual and peculiar form of the bill is explained when the
shape of the flower from which the bird feeds is seen. This is of the shape of a
Roman helmet inverted, attached to the stalk by the point of the crest as it were.
The bird inserts the bill into the calyx, not by advancing in a direct line to the flower
as is usually done, but by first stooping forward until the bill is introduced, and on
the point reaching the desired locality, the body is dropped down so that the bird
appears to be hanging by the bill. After remaining in this position a moment, by
reverse movements to those described, the bill is withdrawn. These birds fly swiftly,
with a loud hum and buzzing of the wings. Three species only are known, natives of

Central America, Colombia and Ecuador.
D. G. Exxior.

458 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

OrpER XVIII.—PASSERES.

This order comprises in round numbers say six thousand species, or more than half
the number of all the known birds. In the foregoing pages of this volume, conse-
quently, we have dealt with a less number of species than this order alone contains.
The great majority of the Passerine species, however, are so closely allied that it is
only in catalogues and nominal lists that they take up the greatest space; while here,
where we have to consider the forms according to their biological and morphological
features, the present order will receive a treatment commensurate with the importance
of the group in these respects, but not with the number of the species.

There seems to be no single character by which the Passeres, as here and most
commonly defined, can be separated from all the rest of the birds. Hence the only
characteristic which can be formulated in a few words is that they possess a number
of characters which are not combined in the same way in any bird included in the
foregoing orders. It is especially among the Picarians that we find forms which
approach the Passeres very closely in some of their characters, while, on the other
hand, a few generalized Passerine birds have retained some ancestral peculiarities
which link them to the groups below.

We have seen that egithognathism is no exclusive character; in most Passeres the
manubrial process of the sternum is bifurcate, but it is so in some higher or passeri-

7 form Piecarians; the hind
, margin of the breastbone
has mostly only two notch-
es, but in a few has four,
and in some Picarie has
also only two; the Passeres
have ceca and no tuft to
the oil-gland, but many Pi-
carians are similarly charac-
terized; the Passeres have

— = a peculiarly specialized ar-

= rangement of the wing-coy-

: =
te hE SNE AR TR OLS 3 . \ XEN SEN . i E
WR AN hh N iN Nt PRE erts, a feature already noted
ff rape on a previous page when we
FiG, 228.— Diagram of the elbow-muscles in (A) Icterus and (B) Menura; a be
muscles with longitudinal, tendons with transverse, lines ; 6, biceps ; emrl, said that woodpeckers and
extensor metacarpi radialis longus ; /#, humerus; s, shoulder; sr, second- .
cra remiges ; ¢, triceps; tpb, tensor patagii brevis; ¢pl, tensor patagii SOMe allied forms present
ongus, . sae
_ the same kind of specializa-
tion. The schizopelmous arrangement of the deep plantar tendons would have been
an excellent distinction but for the fact that the hoopoes are also schizopelmous, while
the Eurylaimide, which are otherwise true Passeres, have the flexor hallucis attached
to the perforans digitorum by means of a strong vinculum, making them desmopelmous.
Another myological feature which is peculiar to the Passeres inasmuch as it does not
occur in other birds, though not in all Passeres, is the distal insertion of the tensor
patagii brevis, a muscle which has already been mentioned under the head of the
Micropodoidex. Being obliged to treat of this character more in full, we shall try
to use Professor Garrod’s own words whenever possible.

PASSERES. 459

In the patagium, that is the triangular membrane of the bird’s wing expanded
between the anterior margins of the humerus and the fore-arm, the tendons of two
muscles are to be found. One is that of the tensor patagii longus, which forms the
supporting chord of the free margin itself. The second is that of the tensor patagii
brevis, which courses parallel with the humerus from the shoulder to the muscles and
fascie of the fore-arm. From the comparatively insignificant fleshy belly of this
muscle, a single cylindroid tendon runs to the upper margin of the axially running
tendon of origin of the extensor metacarpi radialis longus, at a point not far from
the tubercle on the humerus, whence this muscle springs. In most of the Passeres the
tensor patagii brevis here becomes attached to the latter muscles without blending
with its tendon, and runs from the point of attachment back, independently fixing
itself to the base of the same tubercle as the extensor m. 7. longus, as a consequence
of which arrangement two distinct tendons run to that same spot, as may be plainly
seen in the accompanying cut (Fig.228 A.) In a few Passeres of the South American
families Pteroptochide and Conopophagide, the arrangement is a little obscured since
the muscular fibres of the extensor m. 7. longus almost surround and enclose the ten-
dons in question, but upon removing these covering fibres the two tendons are seen
arranged exactly as in most other members of the order. The only real exceptions
are the lyre-bird (Menura), and the Australian brush-bird Atrichornis rufescens, in
which the tensor brevis inserts itself on the tendon of the extensor metacarpi, in such
a way as to blend with it entirely, only one tendon running to the tubercle at the
elbow, an arrangement which is exactly like that of the Ramphastide, Megalaimide,
Indicatoride and Picid of the foregoing order, and illustrated in Fig. 228 B.

A certain structure of the syrinx is also peculiar to the Passeres, although not
common to all of them. Having already in the introduction to this volume promised
a fuller account of this feature, we shall try to make this point as intelligible as _pos-
sible, especially since the syringeal arrangement
has been made the chief character by which some
systematists primarily subdivide the Passeres.

The great German anatomist, Johannes Miil-
ler, in 1846 announced the discovery that the
Passerine birds exhibited two— or rather three
— radically different types of the lower larynx.
He found that in the vast assemblage of birds
which has usually been called Oscines, Cantores,
ete., the intrinsic muscles—numbering from 5... 99. _ gyrinx (A) of Atrichornis (acromy-
two to six pairs — are inserted into the extremi- puny and (1) aes fnaenpty paar ae
ties of the bronchial semi-rings, an arrangement ee Bie In See
which Garrod has termed acromyodous, while ;
the rest have these muscles —usually only one pair—attached to the semi-rings in
their middles; these are called Mesomyodi, or Clamatores. But of the latter some
South American forms are peculiar in having the syrinx chiefly formed by the lower
end of the trachea, hence Miller made them a separate group, Tracheophon ; the
Mesomyodi with tracheo-bronchial syrinx are often termed Oligomyodi, or Haploophon,
though the latter name was originally intended for a more restricted group. The
terminology is somewhat intricate, but it is important that one who wishes to study
or understand the modern schemes of Passerine classification should master it thoroughly,
hence Fig. 229 is given to indicate the difference between the acromyodian and the

460 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

mesomyodian type, A representing the former, B the latter. The acromyodian form
here figured is not quite typical oscinine, but the attachment of the intrinsic muscles
to the ends of the semi-rings is well represented, while the median insertion is equally
plain in the other figure.

The classification of the Passeres has recently made a long stride forward, espe-
cially by the investigations of Professor Garrod. We have above indicated three pri-
mary divisions of the order, which we shall designate as super-families, to which we
may add two additional ones, the Eurylaimoidex, and the Menuroidex ; the three
others are the Tyrannoidex, correspondiug to the non-tracheophonous mesomyodians,
the Formicaroidex, being the equivalent of the Tracheophone of authors, and the
Passeroidex, of the same limits as the Oscines proper, or the Acromyodi of Garrod,
minus the Pseudoscines of Sclater. These five super-families to be arranged as follows:

Menuroidee.
Eurylaimoidee ; desmopelmous.
Tyrannoidee

Tensor patagii brevis picarian . . ..- =... -
syrinx broncho-tracheal i

Tensor patagii schizopelmous.

mesomyodian
brevis passerine

syrinx tracheal Formicaroidee
acromyodian. .-. . -':.'. .«. ‘s» WPasseroider

On the whole the MENUROIDEZ may be regarded as the most abnormal Passeres,
and in many respects most generalized. It is true that their syrinx is ‘acromyodian,’
inasmuch as the intrinsic muscles are fastened to the ends of the semi-rings, but there
seems to be nothing to necessitate the theory of the true oscinine syrinx having been
developed from this ‘pseudoscinine’ one, or to prevent the assumption that both
these styles have developed independently from the mesomyodian pattern, as they are
sufficiently diverging in other points than the number of the intrinsic muscles to
make it probable that they are of independent origin. It is also true that they are
schizopelmous, and that the Eurylaimoidew, which we have placed after them, are
more generalized in this respect, being, as they are, desmopelmous; but there is noth-
ing strange in supposing that the vinculum has been lost independently in the birds of
the present group and in those of the three last super-families of our scheme; in
other words, that the vinculum was lost by the ancestors of this super-family and in
those mentioned after the ancestral passerine stock had split into two groups, charac-
terized by the difference in the arrangement of the tensor patagii brevis, besides in
several osteological features. The proof of the admissibility of this conclusion is
furnished by the fact that not only has a Picarian group — viz., the hoopoes — de-
veloped the same arrangement of the deep plantar tendons, but that even several
herons have lost the vineculum connecting the flexor hallucis with the flexor per-
Jorans.

The osteological features by which the members of the present super-family deviate
from the other Passeres are many, but we shall only mention those by which the two
families which constitute the super-family may be at the same time separated. The
lyre-birds have quite a peculiar breast-bone, it being long, and much constricted near
the centre; the manubrium is very well developed and furcated; the posterior edge
is strongly convex, and has only a slight notch on each side near the margin, quite
different from all other Passeres. The clavicles are well developed, but without a
median process at the symphysis. On the other hand, the sternum of the brush-birds,
as figured by Garrod, differs very much from the above. The manubrium is less de-
veloped, though furcate, and the posterior edge is straight, with a deep passerine notch

LYRE-BIRDS. 461

on each side; but the most curious feature is the absence of clavicles, of which only
a small rudiment is left, a feature absolutely unique amongst Passeres.

The lyre-birds, therefore, constitute the family Menurm. Their chief internal
characteristics have already been mentioned; we shall only add that, notwithstand-
ing Professor Huxley’s assertion to the contrary, maxillo-palatines are present, being
long and slender, and separate from one another and from the vomer, and that the
syrinx is supplied with only three pairs of intrinsic muscles. Externally these birds
are not less remarkable, as will be seen from the accompanying cut. They are rather
large birds, the body equalling in size that of a ruffed-grouse; the head is small, the

tarsi are very long and stout and the toes are provided with long and rather straight
claws. The above characters, except the last one, in connection with the unique tail,
give these Australian birds quite the aspect of one of the Gallinaceous order, with
which, indeed, some earlier ornithologists placed them, and the colonists in New South
Wales call them ‘pheasants’ to-day. The beautiful tail of the male is composed of
the unusual number of sixteen rectrices, which are enormously lengthened and grace-
fully curved, so as to imitate the shape of a lyre when raised. When the bird is sing-
ing the tail is displayed in the same manner as a peacock spreads his train. The
color of the lyre-bird is a sombre dusky, in several places tinged with rufous, and there
is nothing particularly attractive about it beyond its unrivalled tail.

Two species only are recognized in the genus Menura, the only one constituting

462 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the family, both very similar in appearance. In contradistinction to the species here
figured (MM. superba), the M. alberti is of a more rusty color, and has the outer lyre-
shaped tail-feathers much shorter and entirely destitute of bars.

The lyre-birds are very partial to the dense brush, and are said to be very shy and
difficult to approach. In some parts of New South Wales they are sometimes suc-
cessfully pursued by dogs, which by their barking attract the attention of the birds so
that the hunter may easily approach. The birds rarely, if ever, attempt to escape by
flight, but easily elude pursuit by running swiftly over the ground in the dense brush.
The lyre-bird is credited with a great power of mocking the song of other birds or
the voices of other animals, even the barking of the dingo. Mr. Gould also states
that they are of solitary habits, and that they form small round hillocks, which are
constantly visited during the day, and upon which the male is continually trampling,
at the same time erecting and spreading out its tail in the most graceful manner.
Mr. A. A. Leycester says that the Albert lyre-bird generally constructs its nest of
small sticks, interwoven with moss and fibres of roots; it is covered in with the en-
trance on the side, and placed on the side of some steep rock. The single egg laid is
of a very dark color, appearing as if it had been blotched over with ink.

The Arricnorniruips, brush- or scrub-birds, constitute a family of pseudoscinine,
acromyodian Passeres, with two pairs of intrinsic muscles. They are not more nu-
merous than the lyre-birds, comprising only one genus of two species, which also
are exclusively Australian in their distribution.

Their external appearance does not indicate any close relationship with the lyre-
birds, for in size and general form and coloration they more closely resemble some of
our large wrens, with long graduated tails. Their habits are not unlike those of the
lyre-birds, and their power of mocking other sounds is equally strong. From Mr. E. P.
Ramsay’s account of the habits of the species discovered by him, Atrichornis
rufescens, we quote as follows: “Only on one occasion did I meet with more than a
single bird in the same place. They are always among the logs and fallen trees, over-
grown with weeds, vines, nettles, etc., and are the most tiresome birds to procure
imaginable. As to their ventriloquial powers, they must be heard to be believed. It is
impossible to say what its own note really is. I have frequently stood on a log
waiting for it to show itself from among the tangled mass of vines and weeds at my
feet, when all of a sudden it would begin to squeak and imitate first one bird and then
another, now throwing its voice over my head, then on one side, and then again
apparently from the log on which I was standing. This it will continue to do
for hours together; and you may remain all day without catching sight of it.”

The broad-mouths, forming the super-family EURYLAIMOIDE, which again
only comprises one family, the EuryLammp, recall in their external appearance several
Picari, for instance, rollers and barbets, and in fact were usually kept with that
order in the systems until more recently Sclater, Garrod, and Forbes demonstrated
their passerine nature. Particularly convincing is the absence of tufts to the oil-
gland, combined with presence of cxca, the nature of the pterylosis, and the insertion
of the tensor patagii brevis ; the palate and the posterior margin of the breastbone
are also typical passerine, but the manubrium is pointed and not bifureated. The
desmopelmous arrangement of the deep plantar tendons, which prevents the hallux
from being moved independently of the other toes, is another picarian feature.
Johannes Miller denied the existence of intrinsic muscles to the syrinx in the only
species examined by him, but this may have originated in a mistake, for in others one

TYRANT-BIRDS. 463

pair of slender muscles is present, and the syrinx is altogether constructed after the
tracheo-bronchial mesomyodian pattern.

The present family is confined to the southeastern part of the Oriental region, a
few species occurring from the Himalayas southwards through Burmah and Malacca to
the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, representing in the Old World their allies,
the cotingas and pipras of South America. Owing to the small number of species—
hardly a dozen —belonging to not less than five genera, the group proves itself to be
on the way to extinction, the last remnants of a once probably quite numerous group.
We have here an excellent illustration of the fact that the distinctness of the different
groups of our systems only depends upon the number of links that have disappeared.
Had hoopoes and broad-bills become extinct only a short time before the present era
of anatomical ornithology, the systematist would have found no difficulty in trenchantly
defining the ‘ order’ Passeres.

The broad-bills are rather small birds, not much larger than sparrows, with some-
what syndactyle feet, the outer and middle toes being connected for a distance of
nearly two joints. The bill is very broad, and remarkably resembles that of some
rollers, while in coloration and extreme sluggishness and stupidity they remind one of
the barbets. In regard to color, the likeness between Pogonorhynchus dubius, from
Africa, as described in a previous page of this work and the blue-billed gaper
(Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus) is very striking. The latter bird is found in
Sumatra and Borneo, while a nearly related form, C. malaccensis, is common in
Malacea, where Lieutenant H. R. Kelham recently has observed its interesting
breeding habits, and from his account we choose the following abstract: “Kwala
Kanysar, Perak, 5th May, 1877.— This afternoon, while stalking jungle-fowl, which
towards dusk come out to feed along the outskirts of the jungle, I saw a blue-billed
gaper fly out of a large, roughly-made, domed nest, which was hanging from the top-
most twigs of a slender sapling, at about ten feet from the ground; over the entrance,
which was on one side, a kind of roof projected, like the slanting shade of a cottage-
door. Internally the nest was rather neatly lined with flags and green leaves, and
contained four white eggs, one and one twelfth inches long by eight twelfths broad,
blotched (principally at the larger end) with rusty brown marks.” The bill of the
present species is of the most pure cobalt blue above and orange below, while the eyes
are emerald green.

Before leaving this family we may mention the beautiful green Calyptomena
viridis, from Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, which, from its rounded crest on the head
and other external peculiarities, has been classed by some authors with the South
American cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola). The internal structure, however, shows plainly
that it belongs to the same family as its countrymen, the broad-bills.

The birds composing the super-family TYRANNOIDE® have already been
defined as Passeres with a mesomyodian tracheo-bronchial syrinx, and with the hind
toe independently movable. It is a rather large group which, in regard to the dispo-
sition of the vessels of the thigh, has been divided in two groups, Homeomeri and
Heteromeri. In the former the main artery accompanies the sciatic nerve, as in
nearly all other birds, while in the latter the femoral artery is the main artery of the
thigh. This exceptional arrangement is found in the pipras and cotingas, with the
exception of the cock-of-the-rock, which seems to prove that the character is not one
fit to base even a family division upon.

The horny covering of the tarsus still plays a great réle in the classification of the

464 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Passeres, and, as the present super-family contains a great many different forms of
tarsal scutellation, we may improve the opportunity by familiarizing ourselves with
a few of the modern technical terms, which in one word express quite marked
differences.

The first distinction to be made is between a seutelliplantar and a laminiplantar
tarsus. In the former, at least one of the sides of the posterior tarsal surface is
divided by transverse sutures or is broken up into small scutelle. The laminiplantar
tarsus is covered behind with a continuous horny lamina on each side, without sutures
or divisions. This arrangement is found in all true Oscines (Passeroidex) with the
exception of the larks, and is only met with in a few Old World forms of the present
super-family, viz., in the Pittidse, which also have the tarsal covering in front undi-
vided, or ‘booted’ (ochreate).

The scutelliplantar tarsus shows several modifications. The anterior scutes may
extend round to the posterior margin exteriorly, leaving the internal plantar space
covered by a smooth skin, with no signs of scutes or scutelle; such a tarsus is said to
be exaspidean. Or the arrangement may be reversed, so that the anterior scutes are
extended round the tarsus on the inner sides, in which case it is endaspidean. If the
posterior surface of the tarsus is entirely broken up into numerous small, somewhat
irregular and rounded scutelle, the tarsus is pycnaspidean, while taxaspidean means
that the plantar scutelle are contiguous, rectangular, and arranged in regular series.
If, as in the larks, the scutellation behind is formed by larger scutes in a single series,
the term holaspidean has been used. In the taxaspidean tarsus it often occurs that
all the scutelle become fused in the old birds, which then have a booted tarsus, and
such may be the origin of the nature of the tarsus of the Pittide, while the true
ochreate tarsus, as it is found in the thrushes, is formed by simple fusion of the ante-
rior scutes only.

In this connection it may be well to remember that only the Passeroidex, or the
acromyodian Passeres, are laminiplantar or holaspidean, and that most mesomyodian
Passeres have ten primaries, the first of which is but slightly shorter than the rest.

The Tyrannoidee are found in both hemispheres, though not one tenth of the
nearly six hundred species composing the super-family inhabit parts of the Old
World. They are chiefly tropical, and it is only in America that birds of this group
extend their range considerably beyond the limits of the tropics, though the number
of species with such a distribution is comparatively small. Of the Old World forms,
one family inhabits parts of the Australian, Oriental, and Ethiopian regions, while an-
other is restricted to Madagascar, and a third to New Zealand, a distribution of allied
birds which, after what we have seen on preceding pages, cannot be strange to the
readers of this volume.

A considerable diversity of form is shown by the members of this super-family.
We have already mentioned the different tarsal structure to be found amengst them,
but the bills and general habitus is also very variable. We will soon be introduced
to forms which resemble the starlings, with their long and straight bills; others seem
to have copied the thrushes, while again others have all the superficial look of a
wren, and true flyeatchers and shrikes are closely mimicked by tyrant-flyeatchers and
the ‘American bush-shrikes’; even the ‘conirostres,’ finches, or tanagers, are not
unrepresented in the clamatorial Mesomyodi. Indeed, so great is the external
resemblance of these with some form or another of true Oscines that before their
internal structure had become known they were classed with the isomorphic oscinine

RIFLEMAN. 465

group. This parallellism, however, is not more remarkable or inexplicable than the
well-known isomorphism of some marsupials and placental mammals, and ‘tenui-
rostral,’ or ‘conirostral’ Clamatores are not stranger than marsupial ‘Carnivora’ or
‘Rodentia.’

It was not until 1882 that the Xenicmsz: were shown to be mesomyodic, and,
consequently, were taken from the Oscines, having formerly been placed alternately
in the families Certhiids, Sittidse, Troglodytide, and Sylviide. In support of their
present position amongst the clamatorial birds, I quote the following summary of their
characters as given by the late Professor Forbes, the discoverer of their true relation-
ship : —

“ Nenicus and Acanthisitta are true mesomyodian forms, and therefore in no
intimate degree related to such Oscines as Sitta, Sitella, or other ‘Certhiide,’ since
the syrinx has more of the complex nature of that organ in the Oscines, and there is
no other intrinsic syringeal muscle than the thin lateral tracheal, the position of
which is that characteristic of all the mesomyodian Passeres, resembling somewhat that
of Todus (haplophone). Externally the non-oscinine structure of their wings, which
have a ‘first’ (tenth) primary nearly as long as the following (preceding) one, and of
the tarsus, which is non-bilaminate, is at once apparent. Ten rectrices. No trace
of plantar vinculum. Sternum has a single pair of posterior notches. Holorhinal.
Vomer broad and deeply emarginated anteriorly, the maxillo-palatines slender and
recurved. Perhaps nearest to Pittidw, though differing in many respects.”

The present family is restricted to New Zealand, the genus Acanthisitta, consisting
of one or possibly two species, showing some resemblance to the creepers, except for
the extremely short tail, while the two species composing the genus -Yenicus most
remarkably personate our small short-tailed wrens, but their colors show considerable
admixture of green. X. longipes is strictly arboreal in its habits, while _X. gilviven-
tris, according to Dr. Haast, is found in the high Southern Alps of New Zealand, ex-
clusively amongst the large taluses of débris high on the mountain sides. Instead of
flying away when frightened, or when stones are thrown at it, or even when shot at,
it hides itself among the angular débris. Acanthisitta chloris, known as the ‘ rifle-
man,’ especially in its habits resembles the creeper, for it is said to be generally
seen running up the boles of the larger trees, often ascending spirally, prying into
every chink or crevice, and moving about with such celerity that it is rather difficult
for the collector to obtain a shot.

From New Zealand to Madagascar is not so long a step, ornithologically speaking.
The Parterirrm form one of the most interesting forms of the latter island. They
have been knocked considerably about in the system, and Mr. R. B. Sharpe even pro-
posed to make them a sub-family under the birds-of-Paradise, while A. Milne-Edwards
placed them next to the Nectariniide, but Forbes showed, a few years ago, that they
are mesomyodian with broncho-tracheal syrinx, though differing enough in detail to
justify their position as a separate family. The most remarkable feature in regard to
the intrinsic muscles is that at the lower insertion they are peculiarly expanded,
though not fixed to the ends of the bronchial semi-rings, which are peculiarly modified.
Of external characters we shall only call attention to the taxaspidean tarsi, the rather
long wing-coverts, and the short tail, a peculiarity which the P/ilepitte have in com-
mon with all the Old World forms of the present super-family. The male has a large
lobed and naked caruncle above the eyes, and both sexes possess a peculiar penicil-
lated tongue. Only two species of the genus PAilepitta are known — P. castanea and

VOL. Iv. —30

466 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

P. schlegeliit. Very little is known of the habits of these interesting birds. The
last mentidned species is said to hop from branch to branch, mostly in pairs, looking
for its food, which consists of small insects, especially coleopters.

It has been suggested by Mr. J. Gould that the curious Mellopitta (or Melampitta)
lugubris from New Guinea, with its velvety feathers of the face, might form the tran-
sition from the foregoing family to that of the Prrrm.a: which are often called the
‘Old World ant-thrushes,’ but its anatomy is yet unknown, and we, therefore, leave
it with the latter, at least provisionally.

The pittas, on account of the form of their bills and the apparently booted tarsi,
were by most authors held to be nearly related to the thrushes (Turdide) until quite
recently, when Garrod demonstrated their mesomyodian or ‘clamatorial’ nature by

FIG. 231. — Pitta coronata, Bengal pitta.

actual dissection, thus verifying Dr. Cabanis’ deduction from the length of the first
(tenth) primary. The skull of the pittas exhibits one feature which is found in no
other passerine bird, viz., that the temporal fossee extend across the occipital region
of the skull, and nearly meet in the middle line behind.

The species figured is the well-known Indian form Pitta coronata, which occurs
from the Himalayas to Ceylon. It is olivaceous green; the head olivaceous ochre
with a black line along the crown and one underneath each eye; throat white, but
the rest of the under surface is light fawn-colored, abdomen and under tail-coverts
strongly washed with beautiful rose-red ; the upper tail-coverts and the smaller upper
wing-coverts are shining sky-blue; on the wing a white speculum.

Alfred Wallace has given a most excellent account of their habits and distribution,
from which we make copious abstracts in the following. To use his words, the pittas,

PITTAS. 467

or ground-thrushes, are a group of insectivorous birds which inhabit the forests of
the eastern tropics, and are generally adorned with brilliant and strongly contrasted
colors. The rich blues and crimsons, the delicate greens, yellows, and purples, the
velvety black and pure white (three of which tints at least generally adorn each spe-
cies) remind one of the tanagers of South America; and, in fact, these two groups
are almost the only ones which have no one characteristic tint or style of dress, but
whose different species seem free to adorn themselves with the brightest hues from
Nature’s laboratory. There is, however, this difference, that, whereas the tanagers are
a dominant group, abounding in genera, species, and individuals, over a very wide
area, and presenting to our view much variety of form and almost every possible com-
bination of colors, the pittas are a small and probably decreasing genus, with but slight
modifications of form, and alike poor in species and in individuals. They inhabit a
district which has been recently broken up into many fragments, and which seems to
have been, during long epochs of the past, in an unstable and ever-changing condition.
With the exception of the West African P. angolensis, which belongs to the same
section of the genus as the species from India described above, all the pittas belong
to the Oriental and Australian regions, being most abundant in the Malay Archipelago,
about equally divided between the two regions. They attain, however, their maxi-
mum of beauty and variety in the large islands of Borneo and Sumatra, from whence
they diminish in numbers in every direction, one species being found in North
China, and only a few in Australia. It is interesting to remark that the species which
are most alike form a section which spreads over the whole range of the family,
the African and Chinese as well as one of the Australian species all belonging to
the same group distinguished by its comparatively plainer colors, while the small
islands of the Malay Archipelago show great contrasts in coloration, each island being
usually inhabited by a distinct species. The following remarks of Dr. Wallace
illustrate so forcibly several cardinal points in the question as to the influence of
geographical distribution, or the origin of species, that we cannot refrain from quot-
ing him in full.

“Tt is,” he says, “interesting to remark that two species of the same group scarcely
eyer inhabit one island ; where two or more species are found in an island, they almost
invariably belong to as many distinct sections of the genus. This illustrates Mr.
Darwin’s theory of the extermination of closely allied forms by the more dominant
race, and also of the effects of intercrossing in keeping up the uniformity of a species
over a wide area. It thus happens that it is on the continent that the species have the
widest range, though the varieties of physical condition in India, from the Himalayas
to Ceylon, must certainly be greater than from island to island in the Archipelago.
But those slight modifications which tend to bring a species into more exact harmony
with surrounding conditions can be accumulated and rendered constant by ‘natural
selection’ in an island where intererossing with the forms of other districts is impos-
sible; while on a continent the same mode of action will be very often neutralized by
the intermingling of the various forms which must occasionally come in contact with
each other, except where the habits of the animal are much opposed to locomotion.
It is an interesting confirmation of this theory that the only species of Pitta which
presents any well-marked varieties is that which has the widest range. Two or three
forms of P. bengalensis [P. coronata, the species figured] have been described as
distinct species; but it is found that these forms are unstable, and graduate into each
other. We have here an evident tendency to produce distinct forms, which inter-

468 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

crossing continually prevents; but if continental India were broken up into three or
four large islands (a change which the southern extremity of Asia has already under-
gone), we can hardly doubt but that a form specially adapted to the conditions,
physical and organic, of each island would be developed by natural agencies from the
variable material that we know already exists there. This segregation has already
taken place to a remarkable extent in the archipelago. Generally speaking, each
island, or little group of islands, has its peculiar species distinct from those of the
islands that surround it. Some of these cases of localized species are among the most
extraordinary known. The little island of Banda, hardly more than a mile across, has
a species peculiar to it. Ternate, a mere volcanic satellite of Gilolo (Halmahera), and
not more than ten miles from it, has a Pitta all to itself, though closely allied to the
distinct species which inhabits the large islands of Gilolo and Batchian. The small,
rugged metalliferous island of Banca, between Sumatra and Borneo (but so close to
the former island as to seem only a detached fragment of it), has actually two species
peculiar to itself; while, what is still more strange, the two allied species of which
they seem to be modifications (P?. cyanoptera and P. muelleri) are both common to
the great islands of Sumatra and Borneo.”

This latter case Dr. Wallace then explains by showing that Banca was already
isolated at a time when Sumatra and Borneo were connected with the Malay penin-
sula, and that the nearness of Banca and Sumatra is quite recent, the nearest coast of
the latter consisting of a soft alluvial soil, newly-formed by the action of tropical
rains on the mountains way back in the interior.

The motions of the pittas he describes as very pleasing. They never seem to hurry,
and yet get along at a great rate by hopping, generally on the ground, but occasion-
ally perching on a stump or bush, and, when hard pushed, taking a long, straight,
and silent flight. The voice of the smaller species he met with was a plaintive whis-
tle of two notes, the second lengthened out and quickly succeeding the first, while
the larger species seem to have three notes. The pittas seem not to answer to their
vernacular name, ‘Old World ant-thrushes,’ as, according to Wallace, these insects
are not their favorite food, which chiefly consists of coleopters, small orthopters, and
worms, after which they dig with their powerful bills.

The remaining forms of the present super-family, without a single exception, in-
habit the New World exclusively. Garrod discovered a peculiarity in the structure
of some of them already mentioned, viz., that the pipras and cotingas have the femoral
artery developed, in a word, are heteromerous, while the cock-of-the-rock and the
tyrant-birds agree with all other birds in having the sciatic artery performing the duty
as chief artery of the thigh, or are homeomerous. We are absolutely ignorant, how-
ever, of the taxonomic value of this character, and we are inclined to think that it is
of no more account from a systematic point of view than is in most cases the diversi-
ties in the arrangement of the carotids. As, moreover, only few species have been
investigated as to the vessels of the thigh, we shall disregard this character altogether
in our present attempt.

The family Tyranni&, as a whole, may well be termed tyrant-birds, for a pugna-
cious temper and a tyrannical irritability towards other members of the feathered
tribes, especially the rapacious birds, seems to pervade the whole group. Such a term
is the more expedient, since in this polytypical family of more than three hundred and
fifty species, it is difficult to invent suitable English appellations for the different kinds,
and we may now style various birds tyrant-chats, tyrant-wrens, tyrant-flycatchers, etc.,

TYRANT-BIRDS. 469

according to the more or less obvious resemblance they may have to the true (osci-
nine) chats, wrens, or flycatchers.

The family is not difficult to define by means of external characters, as the tyrant-
birds have exaspidean tarsi, and the outer and middle toes united only at their base, as
in most Passeres. As an additional character may be added that the bill is more or
less hooked at the tip, if we consider the genus Oxyrhynchus entitled to family rank
on account of its curious straight and pointed, lengthened conical, and somewhat star-
ling-like bill. The anatomy of the OxyruyNcuip#, however, is too little known to
allow any certain conclusions, and if the form of the bill alone is taken into consider-
ation such a separation seems hardly defensible in view of its great variability in the
Tyrannide proper, in which, without dissent, are included birds with bills as different
as that of a shrike, a warbler, and a flycatcher. The species of Oxyrhynchus are only
two, one, O. frater, from Costa Rica and Veragua, the other from Brazil. The colora-
tion resembles that of several other tyrant-birds, being green with a fiery orange
crown patch.

The systematic arrangement of the tyrants is a matter of considerable doubt, as
the numerous forms on one hand show extreme development of certain characters,
while, on the other hand, they grade insensibly into each other, being connected all
around by intermediate forms. We shall, therefore, not attempt here to define any
sub-families, contenting ourselves by briefly mentioning the most noteworthy forms.

Notwithstanding the fact that the tyrants are chiefly tropical birds, — only one tenth
of the whole number entering the fauna of North America, — the great bulk of the
family is made up of very unsightly birds which are not particularly attractive, either
by their coloration, by their form, or by their voice. The fundamental coloration, so
to speak, seems to be gray, darker above, whitish beneath, but a common modification
is that the whole plumage is washed with yellow, which causes the back to become olive
and the under surface to be more or less pure yellow. A very common character is
the shining yellow or red crown patch on top of the head, more or less hidden when
the feathers are not raised. As this bright spot is invariably found in both sexes, the
question has been raised whether it is an ornament acquired by sexual selection, or
whether it may not have some other object. Mr. Charles W. Beckham has made the
following suggestive observations on our common king-bird, or bee-martin (Z'yrannus
tyrannus) :—

“ Several years ago, in May, I saw one of these birds occupying an exposed perch
on a pear-tree in bloom, about which many bees were darting. Several times I ob-
served that the bird caught the insects without leaving his perch by quickly turning
his head and ‘grabbing’ them. My attention being thoroughly aroused, I noticed
that many of them seemed to fly directly towards him; the majority appearing to
‘shy off’ at a short distance and change their course, but very few that came within
reach escaped him. The question naturally suggests itself: Did the thrifty Hymen-
optera mistake the fully displayed orange red crown (I could see that the crest was
erected) for a flower? Once since I have observed the same phenomenon, but not as
well as upon this occasion. Mr. C. C. Nutting, who has spent considerable time
studying the birds of Costa Rica and Nicaragua in their native haunts, states that he
has seen Muscivora mexicana perched upon a twig, and waving its curious and bril-
liant fan-shaped crest after the manner of a flower swayed by a gentle breeze, and
thus attracting insects within reach.”

Not all the Tyrannidw, however, are plainly colored, nor is the family without such

470 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

capricious and extraordinary forms as the tropics usually produce, and a cursory
glance at the more conspicuous species will soon convince us of the truth hereof.

Foremost in beauty among the tyrants is the graceful ‘scissor-tail’ (Milvulus for-
Jicatus) which inhabits Central America and some of our southern states west of the
Mississippi. This bird is about as large as our common king-bird, but the tail — or
more correctly the three, and more especially the two, lateral pairs of tail-feathers —
is enormously lengthened, the length of the tail in a specimen before me being ten
inches and a half, while the body without the tail is not more than four inches long.
The coloration is quite unique, being above of a very delicate and light hoary gray,
underneath nearly pure white, but on the flanks washed with a most exquisite salmon
red, which on the lower tail-coverts and the outer rectrices fades into a lovely rosy
tinge, while the feathers surrounding the insertion of the wing and those forming
the concealed crown patch are fiery scarlet. A few remarks on the habits of this
splendid member of our North American fauna may be welcome, hence we transcribe
the following from Lieutenant McCauley’s notes on the birds of the Red River,
Texas : —

“This peculiarly beautiful and graceful bird was one of the species most frequently
seen. They were especially active in the evening, just before dusk, skimming about
in pursuit of insects with wonderful rapidity. As the males fly about the camp with
their mates, in the twilight, you can single them out by the greater length of their
tails. The two elegant feathery tines cross and open at volition, whence the ordinary
simile to a pair of scissors. These birds are grace itself when on wing, darting here
and there as quick as thought, in buoyant sweeps and curves. Even the teamsters
call them ‘mighty pretty,’ and no one wonders that the ‘Texicans’ brag on their
beauty, and call them ‘birds-of-Paradise.’ They were found frequenting the fringe
of timber bordering the streams as far as their head-waters in the Staked Plain, as
well as along the streams in the Indian Territory, all draining portions of the Arkan-
sas Basin. They ruled the wood wherever located, and not only repelled, but hotly
pursued, any sparrow-hawk that ventured near their homes, and even maintained au-
thority over the king-bird.”

Other forms with extremely lengthened outer tail-feathers are the large and hand-
some Gubernetes yetapa from Brazil, gray with a dark chestnut band beneath the white
throat, and Alectrurus psalurus, in which the external rectrices are denuded at the base,
and the webs are turned vertically. The other member of this genus (A. tricolor)
has the tail folded as in the domestic fowl, and the inner webs of the middle rectrices
enormously broadened and raised above the rest.

The genus Z@nioptera and its allies both in form and coloration strongly remind one
of the Old World Saxicole, of which the white-ear is a familiar representative; while
the kinglets are personated by the thin-billed, exceedingly beautiful, small Cyanotis,
the head of which is ornamented with no less than six bright colors in the following
order: chin white; ear-patch blackish indigo; superciliary stripe yellow and green;
top of head black, relieved in the middle by a beautiful crown of the brightest scarlet
orange, a color which also pervades the under tail-coverts. Here also belongs the
interesting Ancretes albocristatus, a bird which in size and color closely resembles
our black-and-white creeping warbler (Mniotilta), but which has a white crown, bor-
dered on each side by a curious horn-like feather-tuft above each eye, somewbat after
the fashion of certain owls.

The central group is occupied by a large number of species of small or medium

TYRANT-BIRDS. 471

size with rather broad and depressed bills, among which are our common tyrant-fly-
catchers, pewees, ete., belonging to a number of genera, the distinctive marks of
which may be sought for in the special and formal text-books. We shall here only
point out a single form, the vermilion fly-catcher (Pyrocephalus rubineus), the north-
ern race of which (mextcanus) is found over our southern border, because of the un-
usual and strongly marked sexual difference, and of the exquisite coloration of the
male, which is deep rosy vermilion, with a silvery white ear-patch, but chiefly on ac-
count of its musical voice, since it disproves the notion that the mesomyodian and
oligomyodian birds must necessarily be harsh screamers. Mr. W. H. Hudson has
given an interesting biography of the ‘churinche,’ as this species is called in South
America, from which we select the following relating to its song: “ A few days after
their arrival the churinches pair, and the male selects a spot for the nest —a fork in
a tree from six to twelve feet from the ground, or sometimes a horizontal bough.
This spot the male visits about once a minute, sits on it with his splendid crest ele-
vated, tail spread out, and wings incessantly fluttering, while he pours out a continu-
ous stream of silvery gurgling notes, so low they can scarcely be heard ten paces off,
and somewhat resembling the sound of water running from a narrow-necked flask,
but infinitely more rapid and musical. He is exceedingly pugnacions ; so that when
not fluttering on the site of his future nest, or snapping up some insect on the wing,
he is eagerly pursuing other male churinches, apparently bachelors, from tree to tree.
At intervals he repeats his remarkable little song, composed of a succession of
sweetly modulated metallic trills uttered on the wing. The bird usually mounts up-
ward from thirty to forty yards, and, with wings very much raised and rapidly vibrat-
ing, rises and drops almost perpendicularly half a yard’s space five or six times,
appearing to keep time to his notes in these motions. This song he frequently utters
in the night, but without leaving his perch; and it then has a most pleasing effect, as
it is less hurried and the notes seem softer and more prolonged than when uttered
by day.”

Still more flattened and broadened are the bills of the small species of Platyrhyn-
chus, which, besides, are remarkable for their extremely short tails, while the still
smaller species of Zodirostrwm have similar but excessively lengthened bills.

Finally, as examples of the large and shrike-billed forms, the king-birds, may be
quoted our bee-martin (Tyrannus tyrannus), the case of which, in regard to its alleged
injuriousness in snapping the bees away as compared with its merits in defending the
farmer’s chickens against the hawks, will soon come up for decision by the ornitho-
logical juries of this country.

It would take us too far were we to go to relate the breeding habits of the differ-
ent tyrant-birds, but we may briefly touch upon an interesting point, viz., how much
the architecture of nearly allied birds may vary, as illustrated by the difference first
pointed out by Mr. H. W. Henshaw in the nests of the two small species of Lmpid-
onax, of Eastern North America, /. traillii and F. acadicus, which are so alike in
their external appearance that they have frequently been mistaken for each other
even by experts. Mr. Henshaw describes the former as follows: ‘THempen fibres
compose the exterior or the bulk of the nest, while internally it is lined in true fly-
catcher style with fine grasses and a slight admixture of down from thistles; the main
point of all, however, is its position in an upright fork, the small twigs that surround
it being made available to secure it more firmly in its place by being encircled with
the stringy fibres.” The nest of the Acadian fly-catcher, on the other hand, “is dis-

472 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

posed in a horizontal fork. It is a slight structure made of fine grasses, interspersed
more or less with the blossoms of trees, the whole disposed in a cireular form, and
fitted between two twigs. ‘The entire base of the nest is without support, and so thin
is the slight structure that the eggs might almost be seen from below.”

The pipras, or manakins, Prerm, like the foregoing family, have exaspidean
tarsi, but the outer and middle toes are connected for a distance of two joints, hence
the feet are syndactylous. Furthermore, they are heteromerous, as already men-
tioned. The pipras are mostly small birds, and nearly confined to South America,
only a few species being found in Central America and Mexico. The sexes are very
different in color, the females usually being dull greenish, while the males are mostly
very gorgeously colored, generally of a deep glossy black relieved by the most brilliant
scarlet, yellow, or sky-blue. Their figure is somewhat thick-set and the tail is generally
short and square, but forms are found with very extraordinary tail ornaments, and, on
the whole, the tail and wings seem to be the most variable parts, while the bill is of a
very uniform shape throughout the family, being short, somewhat vaulted, and broad
at base, the tip of the upper mandible being bent over the under one and notched behind
the point.

The members of the genus //eteropelma are somewhat different from the general
style of the pipras, being larger, and both sexes similarly dull colored. /Z. verw-pacis
is peculiar to Mexico and Central America. Among the more conspicuous forms may
be mentioned the Pipra filicauda from the Amazon, having the tail-feathers pro-
duced into long hair-like, but stiff, threads; the exquisitely colored P. suavissima
from Demerara, of adeep velvety black, against which is set off in the strongest con-
trast imaginable the glossy sky-blue of the rump, the bright orange of the abdomen,
and the white forehead slightly tinged with beryl blue. The manakins proper, the typi-
cal species of which, Manacus manacus, is figured on the plate opposite this page, are
to be mentioned on account of the beard-like elongation of their chin-feathers, and the
attenuation and faleation of the primaries. The species figured is black, gray, and
white, exactly as shown in the drawing, the gray being a little more bluish; and hails
from northern South America, while JZ candei from Central America and Mexico has
the posterior half of the body beautifully tinged with yellow. In the members of the
genus Chiroxiphia we meet a different style of coloration, the back usually being
light blue, while the head is adorned with a crimson crown patch, the central tail-
feathers are often more or less lengthened, and the frontal and nasal feathers show a
tendency towards the velvety antrorse tufts, which reach their highest development
in Masius coronulatus and in Antilophia galeata, both velvety black, the former with
top of the head and the tuft yellow, the latter with the same parts, including the
upper neck and anterior back gloriously crimson scarlet. Most curious in form and
color, however, is the genus Macheropterus. The typical species are green with fiery
red crown, and the lower surface most curiously striped brown and whitish lengthwise.
The inner secondaries have the shafts thickened and hardened, ending in a pointed
claw, a structure carried out to an excessive degree in the more uniformily chestnut-
colored M. deliciosa. Dr. Ph. L. Selater, who originally described this species, gives
the following account of this odd structure of wing: “The ten primaries are of the
ordinary formation of birds of this family. The first three secondaries are thick-
stemmed, and curved towards the body at a distance of about two thirds of their
length from the base. The fourth and fifth show this structure to a greater degree,
with same corresponding alteration in the barb on each side, as may be seen from Fig.

COCK-OF-THE-ROCK. 473

232, a representing the upper surface of the fifth secondary of the male bird. In the
sixth and seventh secondaries of the male, the terminal half of the rachis is thickened
to an extraordinary degree, forming a solid horny lump. The external and internal
barbs are also much modified in shape, and generally curtailed in size. Mr. Fraser
states that the wing-bones of these birds were also
much thickened, no doubt in aid of this abnormal
structure of the wing.”

The pipras are said to resemble our tits and
chickadees in their habits, hopping about in the
lower bushes and partly nesting on the ground.
Chiroxiphia caudata is known in Brazil as the
‘dansador,’ on account of a peculiar play or dance
which often is performed when a few of them are
together. One of them keeps up whistling with all
his might while the others are jumping and danc-
ing on the twigs round about him; when he gets
tired he is relieved by another bird, and he him- fe b és
self joins the dancing chorus. FG. 232. —a, fifth and b, sixth secondaries

The so-called cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola) takes GBape so OTA oe
a position somewhat intermediate between the
Pipride and the CormeGip#, inasmuch as it is syndactylous, like the former, but
pycnaspidean, like the latter family. It has, consequently, by ornithologists, been
referred to one of them as well as to the other. Taking into consideration that it is
homeomerous, like most other birds, the supposition seems not unreasonable that it is
more nearly related to the ancestral stock than the pipras and the cotingas proper, and
that all three should be united in the same family.

This singular bird, which is well figured on the plate facing page 472, is of a beau-
tiful orange-yellow color, with a curiously compressed and rounded crest on the head,
somewhat resembling that of the quezal, and nearly concealing the upper mandible.
The female is much plainer, being of a dull olive brownish. Another species is
R. peruviana, very similarly colored, but the crest without the subapical brownish
band. The intensity of the red in the orange color seems to vary according to the
geographical distribution, two additional races being perhaps recognizable, 2. perw-
viana saturata and R. peruviana sanguinolenta. The females are of a dull olivaceous
brown. The cocks-of-the-rock are restricted to the interior parts of northern South
America, Being of the size of a magpie, they of course are very showy, and have
always attracted great attention, not the least because of the peculiar plays and dances
which the males perform in the breeding season. They meet at certain places, and the
females are interested spectators, the whole performance strongly reminding of similar
games among the gallinaceous birds. A visit to the breeding place of 2. sangui-
nolenta is described by Mr. T. K. Salmon as follows: “I once went to see the breed-
ing place of the cock-of-the-rock ; and a darker or wilder place I have never been in.
Following up a mountain stream in the district of Frontino (State of Antioquia), the
gorge became gradually more enclosed, and more rocky, till I arrived at the mouth of
a cave, with high rock on each side, and overshadowed by high trees, into which
the sun never penetrated. All was wet and dark, and the only sound heard the
rushing of the water over the rocks. We had hardly become accustomed to the
gloom when a nest was found, a dark bird stealing away from what appeared to be a

474 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

lump of mud upon the face of the rock. This, upon examination, proved to be
a nest of the ‘ cock-of-the-rock, containing two eggs; it was built upon a projecting
piece, the body being made of mud or clay, then a few sticks, and on the top lined
with green moss. It was about five feet from the water. I did not see the male
bird; nor, indeed, have I hardly ever seen male and female birds together, though I
have seen both sexes in separate flocks.” The eggs are described as pale buff, spotted
with various sized spots, of shades from red-brown to pale lilac, chiefly at the large
end.

The greater number of the species of the Cotingide are plain-colored, gray, rufous,
or greenish, as, for instance, most species belonging to the genera Tityra, Pachy-
rhamphus, Lipaugus, etc., though even among these rather modest forms there are
some which are more or less highly adorned. Amongst these is the rose-breasted ‘ fly-
catcher,’ Hladrostomus aglaiw, gray, with a beautiful crimson rosy patch on the breast,
which just enters our fauna across the southern frontier. Nevertheless, the cotingas
are generally considered especially bright-colored and curiously adorned birds, on
account of the unrivalled splendor and marvellous ornaments of a number of tropical
forms, chiefly from the northern parts of South America. From Central America we
have the exquisite Curpodectes, white all over, with a delicate tinge of bluish gray
washed over the upper surface ; from Guiana to Brazil are found the deep purplish-
carmine Nipholena, with white remiges, and the great wing-coverts singularly length-
ened, narrowed, and stiffened like a woodpecker’s tail-feathers; the glorious Cotinga,
shining azure blue, with purple throat, from the same countries; the greenish, fork-
tailed Phibalura from Brazil, and the small, pipra-like Zodopleura, curious on account
of the rare lilac color of the sides of the body hidden under the wings. All these are
well known and conspicuous members of the group, the females of which are plainly
colored, mostly gray. But while these forms excite our admiration, a number of oth-
ers exhibit features and ornaments so odd as to completely amaze the observer when
first introduced to them. Most of these are rather large birds, the Pyroderus reach-
ing the size nearly of a crow. It would take too much space were we to mention all
of them, hence we only offer some few remarks on the species figured on our plate.

The first to come in for our consideration is, then, the curious umbrella-bird
( Cephalopterus ornatus), black all over, varied with metallic blue reflections, and of
the size of a crow; as Mr. Wallace says, were it not for its crest and neck plume, it
would appear to an ordinary observer nothing more than a short-legged crow. The
same gentleman, who met the species on the Amazon, thus describes the ornaments
from the fresh bird as follows: “ The crest is perhaps the most fully developed and
beautiful of any bird known. It is composed of long, slender feathers, rising from a
contractile skin on the top of the head. The shafts are white, and the plume glossy
blue, hair-like, and curved outward at the tip. When the crest is laid back, the shafts
form a compact white mass, sloping up from the top of the head, and surmounted by
the dense, hairy plumes. Even in this position it is not an inelegant crest, but it is
when it is fully opened that its peculiar character is developed. The shafts then
radiate on all sides, from the tip of the head, reaching in front beyond and below the
top of the beak, which is completely hid from view. The other singular appendage
of this bird is the neck plume. On examining the structure of this plume, it is found
not to be composed of feathers only, growing from the neck. The skin of the neck:
is very loose; looser and larger, in fact, than in any bird I know of. From the lower
part grows a cylindrical fleshy process about as thick as a goose-quill, and an inch and

PLANYT-CUTTERS. 475

ahalf long. From this grow the feathers to the very point, thus producing the beau-
tiful cylindrical plume quite detached from the breast, and forming an ornament as
unique and elegant as the crest itself.”

The other bird figured is the male of the naked-throated bell-bird (Casmarhincos
nudicollis), white, with the naked parts green, inhabiting the dense forests of Brazil.
With its congeners it is especially celebrated for its extraordinary voice, which is
compared with the tolling of a bell, or the sound produced by the blows of a hammer
on an anvil. Two of the species have most remarkable caruncles on the base of the
bill, the ‘Campanero’ (C. niveus) from Cayenne, having one fleshy, erectile, and
cylindrical appendage nearly three inches long, black of color, and ornamented with
small, white, star-like feathers, while C. tricarwnculatus, from Costa Rica, has three
enormous band-like caruncles on the forehead where it joins the bill, and one on each
side at the corner of the mouth.

The cotingas are very much like enlarged pipras, and have also some resemblance
to our cedar-birds (Ampelis), hence they were formerly classed with the latter. Their
structure, outside of the peculiar ornaments already referred to, is rather uniform.
Their diet is a mixed one, consisting chiefly of fruits and insects.

We have finally to mention the last family of the present super-family, the plant-
cutters, Payroromip”®, with a single genus (Phytotoma) consisting of a few species
ranging from Bolivia to the Argentine Republic and Chili. In their external appear-
ance they closely resemble some conirostral oscines, with which they have been often
associated in the systemot. The coloration is brownish, streaked
with black, but their internal structure is very interesting since
they represent the finches among the mesomyodian Passeres ;
hence we are obliged to go a little into detail.

The skull of the plant-cutter is described by Parker as on
the whole “a most remarkable and evidently ancient form,
although unique in many of its characters.” According to his
nomenclature, its palatal structure (Fig. 233) is compound zegi-
thognathous of the feebler type occurring in some mesomyodian
forms, for instance Pitta, Pipra, Thamnophilus, and which is
characterized as a kind of passerine desmognathism produced
by the maxillaries coalescing with the ossified alinasal wall, but
not with the nasal septum as is the case with the oscinine palates
of the compound type. In many other points the palate of
Phytotoma, especially in its anterior part, shows considerable Bas are Ndi
resemblance to some of the oscinine conirostres; in the former — ‘ofoma: a, denticles; ee

. = maxillo-palatines ; i,
there is a row of clearly defined denticles, both along the den- _ palatines; pr, pterygolis:
tary and palatine ridges of the premaxillary. Professor Parker bi ea
imagines that these knobs are “remains of what are apparently but recently lost teeth
— that is, speaking palexontologically,’— an interpretation which to us seems doubtful,
to say the least. Altogether the palate, in spite of its adaptation to a bill isomor-
phous with that of the tanagers and finches, shows near relationship to that of the
other members of the present super-family, besides that mentioned above, for instance,
in the spur-like process from the maxillo-palatines postero-externally ; but entirely
unique, in the present order, are the plover-like nasal-gland grooves at the orbital eave.
We fully agree with Professor Parker that the plant-cutter “ is marked off from its near-
est known congeners —a species representing a genus, and even a family, quite unique.”

476 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The plant-cutters are charged with being extremely injurious to the farmers, since
with their serrated bills they cut tie young and tender sprouts and buds, doing great
damage to the plantations where they occur in any numbers. Their habits are said
to resemble those of the tanagers of the genus Saltator. Being a ‘clamatorial’ bird,
the Phytotoma has a cry which “could not be much more disagreeable, as it resem-
bles the noise made by the grating of the teeth of one saw against those of another.”

We have already designated the tracheophonous mesomyodic Passeres as FOR-
MICAROIDEZ, or ant-birds, and it remains now only to treat briefly of the different
families belonging to the super-family defined in the above words. At the outset,
however, we may remark that the present group, which embraces about five hundred
species, is absolutely confined to the Neotropical Region, not a single species being
known to occur, even accidentally, within the limits of North America, nor have any
ever been found in any part of the Old World. It is also noteworthy that this super-
family is entirely absent from the West Indies.

In having depressed beaks and exaspidean tarsi, the ConopopHacip® agree with
the tyrant-birds, with which they are most commonly classed. Their position in
the present super-family, however, is clearly dictated by the tracheal position of the
syrinx, which, by the way, has no intrinsic muscles. That their correct place is here,
is furthermore demonstrated by several other features, in which they agree especially
with members of the following family, the Pteroptochidi, viz., the four-notched ster-
num and the quasi-picarian insertion of the tensor patagii brevis tendon, the returning
portion of which is concealed by the muscular fibres at the origin of the extensor
metacarpi muscle, as discovered by Forbes.

This family comprises two genera, if Corythopis really belongs here, and a little
more than a dozen species, confined to tropical South America. They are small birds,
of sparrow-size and smaller, Conopophaga, with extremely short tail, and the typical
species with a white, silky feather-pencil behind the eyes. The ant-pipits, as Corytho-
pis may be termed, have normal tails and a general resemblance in form and colora-
tion to the oscinine pipits. Sundevall places this genus with the Formicariide. Very
little, if anything, is known in regard to the habits of these birds.

Like the foregoing family, the Prrerorprocum have a four-notched sternum, and
a masked passerine insertion of the tensor patagii brevis, but their tarsi are taxaspi-
dean. In their palate, however, they exhibit quite an oscinine feature, their maxillo-
palatines being slender processes curved backwards. In their external appearance
some of them, at least, resemble the wrens very much, —so much, indeed, that one of
the earliest known species of the family was originally described as Troglodytes para-
doxus, and some of the young Scytalopus are amazingly like our winter-wren. In
this respect, as also in the four-notched sternum, they agree with the Australian genus
Atrichornis, and might have fitly been termed ant-wrens, had the latter name not
already been given to another group of the Tracheophone. From the true wrens
they are easily distinguished externally by the long first (tenth) primary, the taxas-
pidean tarsus, and the peculiar operculum overhanging the nostrils. The family con-
sists of less than two dozen species, most of which are restricted to the zoological
province embracing Chili and western Patagonia, two generic types being entirely
peculiar to this region.

In accordance with their skulking habits, the general coloration of the Pteropto-
chidx is dusky brownish, or blackish, and none are especially remarkable, either on
account of color or any striking external peculiarity, except, perhaps, Acropternis

ANT-BIRDS. ATT

orthonyzx, from Ecuador and the United States of Colombia, which “is readily known
by the extraordinary flat, oval shield into which the culmen is developed, and the long,
straight hind claw. Its ocellated plumage is likewise unique among the Passeres,”
and reminds one forcibly of some small Gallinaceous birds.

Darwin gives interesting accounts of several of the species. Of Hylactes tarnii
he says that it is called by the native Indians guid-guid, but by the English sailors
the barking-bird, a name very well applied, since the noise it utters is precisely like
the yelping of asmall dog. It feeds exclusively on the ground, in the thickest and
most entangled parts of the forest, and rarely takes wing, but hops quickly and with
great vigor, carrying the short tail in a nearly erect position. 2. megapodius is
called by the Chilenians ‘El Turco.’ “Its appearance is very strange, and almost
ludicrous, and the bird seems always anxious to hide itself. It does not run, but hops,
and can hardly be compelled to take flight. The various cries which it utters, when
concealed in the bushes, are as strange as its appearance.”

Apparently closely allied to the foregoing family, though with only two sternal
notches and normal passerine insertion of the tensor patagii brevis, is the taxaspidean
family Formacartp2, a large and characteristic South American group of consid-
erably over two hundred species, which seems to be eminently natural. Mr. D’Orbigny
remarks as follows: ‘ All the species of this family, independently of their being of
the same habits, have a facies which unites them together. Their most salient traits
are the long, slender tarsi and toes, the exterior toe united to the middle at its base,
the moderate claws, the fine elongated feathering of the rump, and, in particular, the
spots of white which occupy the base of the interscapularies in the wings of nearly
all the males.”

The present family is divisible in three groups, which have been termed sub-
families, viz., the ant-shrikes (Thamnophilinz), strongly-built birds, with a strong, deep
and compressed bill, hooked and toothed at the end, and a long, broad-feathered,
much-rounded tail, presenting a great resemblance to the genuine, oscinine shrikes.
The sexes are very differently colored, the males being varied with black and white,
the females with brown. The ant-wrens (Formicivorine) are smaller and weaker,
with slenderer, scarcely hooked bill. The tail varies much, being in some genera very
long, and in others extremely short. Sexes asin the foregoing group, with but few
exceptions. The members of the third group are called ant-thrushes (Formicariine),
and, except in regard to coloration, are very much like the pittas, having long tarsi,
large feet, a thrush-like bill, and an extremely short, square tail; and, like their Old
World relatives, their habits are entirely terrestrial. The sexes are usually colored
alike. These sub-families are not very trenchantly defined, intermediate forms occur-
ring all around; and Mr. Sclater, from whose synopsis of the present family the above
is mostly borrowed, freely admits that it is difficult to draw a precise line, and say
where one sub-family ought to end and the other to begin.

It is entirely out of question to go into detail concerning the different genera or
species, or their habits individually, for they are not particularly attractive to the
general reader, and the habits, as far as they are known, seem to be rather uniform.
On the whole, they are birds of very retired manners of life, spending their time
amongst the densest and thorniest thickets. Curiously enough, nearly all of these non-
oscinine birds are said to possess voices of special ventriloqual power, though Mr. Sal-
mon, as will be seen from the following quotation of his account of the habits of
Grallaria ruficapilla, explains the omnipresence of the voice as the result of the bird’s

478 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

own ubiquity. He says: “In the morning, and shortly before sunset, may be heard
a melancholy ery, as this ant-thrush creeps amongst the brushwood. Many times have
I followed, to obtain a specimen, and, after a tough scramble of an hour, given it up
for a bad job. At one time you seem to stand right upon it, and a moment after you
hear it four yards off; again you reach the spot, and you hear it twenty yards behind
you; you return, then it is to the right; soon after, you hear it on the left. At first
you imagine the bird has the power of a ventriloquist ; but, by dint of patience and
watching, you may see it creeping swiftly and silently among the grass and brush-
wood in places where it has to pass a rather more open spot, and the mystery is
explained. The nest is also difficult to obtain ; it is placed at some height from the
ground, and made of a mass of roots, dead leaves, and moss, lined with roots and
fibres. The eggs are two in number, rather round and blue.”

In now turning to the last two families of the present super-family, which are dis-
tinguished from the rest by having endaspidean tarsi, we have to remind the reader of
an osteological character, of which we heard considerable during the earlier part of this
volume. It will be remembered that several ‘swimmers’ and ‘ waders’ distinguished
themselves from others of these antiquated ‘orders,’ and from most other birds, by
being schizorhinal, that is, by having the posterior angle of the external nares passing
behind, instead of in front of, the ends of the nasal processes of the premaxillz, all
other birds being holorhinal. Picarians and Passeres were, therefore, all considered
holorhinal until Garrod, in 1877, demonstrated that certain tracheophone Passeres,
regarded as belonging to the family Dendrocolaptide, are schizorhinal, like the plovers
and gulls. Curiously enough, this specialization, which is quite unique in the order,
is combined with slender maxillo-palatines, curved backwards, as in the Oscines, a fea-
ture only found elsewhere in the Pteroptochide among mesomyodian Passeres. The
significance of these structures is not quite clear yet, but it is safe to assume that the
schizorhinal Formicarioidee form a very natural group, since it is very improbable
that such a unique development should have started independently in two or more
forms. We therefore accept it as indicating family relations, following Garrod’s
proposition in dividing the endaspidean Formicarioidew in the holorhinal Dendroco-
laptidse and the schizorhinal Furnariide.

The DenprovoLaprip#, or woodhewers, represent the woodpeckers in the meso-
myodian series, chiefly on account of the pointed and stiffened tail-feathers, the ends
of which are denuded, and in some forms quite claw-like. The object of this peculiar
structure of the rectrices is the same as in the woodpeckers, that is, to support the
bird when climbing on the trunks of trees, as by being pressed against the bark it
prevents the bird from slipping backwards. The foot is not zygodactylous, how-
ever, though it is nearly as peculiar and specialized for the purpose of climbing. The
outer toe is about as long as the middle one, and this is considerably longer than
the innermost toe, thus giving the foot a very singular appearance, the more so
since all three toes are closely bound together at the base for the whole length of the
first phalanx. The bill, on the other hand, presents no resemblance to the wedge-
shaped chisel of the woodpeckers, it being more or less curved, generally quite slen-
der, and often extraordinarily lengthened, as, for instance, in the genus Nasica. It
is therefore easy to understand that the Dendrocolaptide do not use their bills as
hammers or axes in digging holes in the solid wood of trees, like the woodpeckers.
Some species, as, for instance, the typical Dendrocolaptes, which are marked with
dense dusky cross-bars, recall, in their coloration, certain brown Indian woodpeckers,

OVEN-BIRDS. 479

but the characteristic red ornaments of the latter are entirely absent. A peculiar
style of coloration pervades the whole family, however, all the species being of some
shade of brown, usually with the secondaries, rump, and tail rufous, while the breast,
and often the head and the back, are acorned with whitish drop-spots or shaft-streaks.
Indeed, so uniform is the aspect of all the members of the family, that we see no rea-
son for specially mentioning any particular species, inasmuch as the habits, which,
however, are very little known, seem to be equally uniform. Their movements on the
trees are said to be just like those of the woodpeckers. The species of woodhewers
are not very numerous, hardly more than some eighty being known, ranging from
Chili and La Plata to Mexico.

Representatives of the different types of the Furnarmp have been examined as
to the structure of the nares, and have been found to be schizorhinal. We are, there-
fore, justified in presuming that this condition is a character shared by the other spe-
cies, and peculiar to the family. Externally, they differ from the Dendrocolaptide in
having the middle toe longer than the two lateral toes. Otherwise the two families
have many features in common. Thus many of the Furnariide have pointed and
somewhat stiffened tail-feathers, representing as they do the creepers and nuthatches
amongst the Clamatores. Even in coloration there is a great resemblance to that of
the foregoing family. On the whole, the coloration of the Formicaroidee deserves a
few remarks. All these birds with a mesomyodian tracheal syrinx are exclusively
neotropical. They consequently hail from a part of the world which justly is regarded
as the home of some of the gaudiest-colored birds which our globe has produced, —
humming-birds, tanagers, parrots, toucans, jacamars, trogons, etc. How often has it
not been thoughtlessly repeated that, while the tropical forests foster brilliancy of
plumage, the temperate climates are the home of the plain and dull-colored species,
and that kind nature has given the modestly dressed birds the power of sweet song
as a compensation for the lack of beauty. But here is a neotropical super-family of
‘songless’ birds, nearly five hundred species of a number of different genera and
families, not one of which is adorned with a single bright-colored feather! All the
variation of color is from white to black, through brown and rusty ; and so uniform is
their style that not even green, otherwise so common a color among birds, is found on
any form which really belongs in this super-family, a proof more of the great natural-
ness of the group.

The remarkable impersonation by mesomyodian birds of well known oscinine types
is also very strongly marked in the present family, for in Geositta and its allies
we have a complete repetition of the larks, not only in colors, but also partly in habits,
since they are entirely terrestrial birds, while some species of Synallaxis are most
astonishing counterparts of the tree creepers (Certhia) in movements, size, form,
and color. Peculiar in regard to the form of the bill are the genera Nenops and
Pygarrichus, in which the lower mandible is bent upwards and slightly faleate, dis-
tantly reminding of the corresponding structure in the parrot-auk (Cyclorrhynchus)
and in some kingfishers.

A closer characterization of the different species, genera, or even sub-families, of
the Furnariidw would only be an uninteresting series of notes respecting comparative
dimensions, more or less stiffness and pointedness of tail-feathers, greater or less
amount of gray, or rufous, in the plumage, and may, therefore, be entirely dispensed
with. But as the chief interest of this family lies in the remarkable nesting habits,
we propose to give a fuller account of this side of their economy.

480 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

In speaking of the species of the creeper-like, point-tailed Synallaxinw, of Lower
Uruguay, Mr. W. B. Barrows observes as follows: “These birds are very abundant
at Concepcion, their nests being one of the most noticeable features of the landscape.
There are places within two miles of the centre of the town where I have stood and
counted, from one point within a radius of twenty rods, over two hundred of these
curious nests, varying in size from that of a small pumpkin to more than the volume
of a barrel. Often a single tree will contain half a dozen nests or more, and not
unfrequently the nests of several different species are seen crowding each other out of
shape on the same bush or tree. Most of the smaller species are so similar in color
and motion that they cannot possibly be distinguished from each other at a distance
of twenty feet. And it can easily be imagined how difficult it is to collect eggs and
be sure of their identification. The eggs of most species are as much alike as the
parrots themselves ; often more so, for the eggs are always either white or pale blue.”

One of the most interesting structures is that of the thorn-bird (Anumbius annumbi),
described by the same author as follows: “The bird is not larger than our wood-
thrush (Turdus mustelinus), but its nest is sometimes four feet in length, with an
average diameter of two feet. Probably no nest as first completed would show these
dimensions ; but as the same nest is used for several seasons in succession, its size
increases, until it may even exceed the above measurements. ‘The bird builds its nest
of twigs and thorns, placing it either on a tree or bush, sometimes low enough to be
reached by the hand, sometimes at a height of twenty or thirty feet. The first new
nest I ever examined was built in an ombfi tree at Buenos Aires, and measured about
two and one half feet in height by fifteen inches in diameter. The larger diameter
was vertical, and the opening at the top gave access to a passage-way, barely large
enough to admit the hand, and twisting regularly in a spiral to near the bottom,
where it enlarged somewhat to form the nest cavity. The spiral passage-way made
rather more than two complete turns between orifice and nest, and in so doing passed
between two branches of the tree so close together as barely to allow the passage of
the bird. I have several times seen nests in which these passage-ways were made to
pass completely around the (small) main stems of the trees on which they were built.
In other nests, the passage-way, though never straight, was by no means a spiral.”

The nest of the oven-birds (Yurnarius) is quite a different affair, being, as the
name of the bird indicates, an oven-shaped structure built of clay. Once more we
resort to Mr. Barrows’ excellent account of the nesting habits of these birds, from
which we quote the following, relating to the nesting of the ‘hornero,’ as the red oven-
bird (Furnarius rufus) is called, in lower Uruguay: “The nest is built of such mud
as can be found near at hand, and if the mud contain grass-roots or similar fibres, so
much the better, but I do not think the birds worry themselves much about the qual-
ity of the materials. Although the eggs may not be laid until September or October,
the birds often begin work on the nest as early as the middle of June, thus occupying
three months or more in its completion. In fact I doubt if there is any month in the
year when one cannot find oven-birds at work on their nests. If the weather is dry
they suspend work for a week or two until a shower refills the muddy pool from
which they draw their building material, when they go on leisurely as before. This is
the case only in winter, and when there is nothing to cause haste. In spring and
summer the case is entirely otherwise; a nest may then be begun and finished within
a week But a winter-built house is usually much the best, and not a few such with-
stand the rain and heat for a year or more, if not sooner pulled down by boys, iguanas,

PASSEROIDE 45. 481

or birds of prey. The clayey mud bakes almost to brick, and it is no easy matter
even to break out a hole large enough to extract the eggs. The nests are rather less
than a foot in greatest diameter, and though the eggs are not visible from the entrance
the common statement that there is an ‘ante-chamber’ to the nest seems to me not
quite accurate. The nest is built very much like a spiral shell, and if one could re-
moye the inner whorls from such a shell as Ampullaria he would have quite a fair
miniature of the hornero’s nest. The eggs are seldom more than three in number, and
are originally pure white, but being laid directly on the muddy floor of the nest they
soon acquire about the same color. I have taken them from September 16 until Jan-
uary 15, but the larger number are, I think, laid during October.”

Finally, we shall have to copy Mr. Gibson’s observations on the curious burrowing
habits of the terrestrial and lark-like Geositta cunicularia, made in Buenos Aires:
“This is a most common bird in the camps or plains, to which it is confined, though
we may notice it about the borders of any wood also, should there be a biseachero
(colony of Lagostomus trichodactylus) situated near. On the 16th of August I have
seen the excayation of a nest begun. This (with us, at least) is invariably situated in
the brow of one of the burrows of a biscachero; and as a new one is made every year,
it is often difficult to tell which hole to open up. The passage varies in length from
two to four feet, with a slight downward tendency, and terminates in a cavity shaped
like a cocoa-nut, but a little larger. This is prepared for the reception of the eggs by
a pile or cushion of soft dry grass, sometimes very sparse. The slope of the passage
T have always found to be correctly calculated, so as not to disconcert the bird by a
possible emergence into the open air, should the ground fall away behind the burrow.
The bird sits close, and may often be excavated with the nest. Three is the general
number of eggs laid. The color is white.”

As the Passeres form the largest order among existing birds, so are the PASSEROI-
DE the largest super-family, agreeing exactly with the Acromyodi normales of Gar-
rod, the Oscines of Keyserling and Blasius, Miiller, Cabanis, and others, and the
Laminiplanteres of Sundeyall, plus the larks. So far the harmony amongst systematists
is great and unusual. But when we come to subdivide this enormous group, the una-
nimity suddenly comes to an end, and, to use Professor Parker’s words, ‘‘ A hundred
classifiers, a hundred so-called systems! ”

Having the task now before us of selecting one of these hundred systems, or, if
they do not suit us, to propose number one hundred and one, at least for our own use,
we will have to follow the principle which has guided us so far, viz., to begin with
the most generalized forms, proceeding towards the most specialized ones, whenever the
present status of the science enables us to draw reliable conclusions in that respect.
Our view in regard to the present super-family is fairly expressed by the following
quotation from Professor Newton: ‘Hard though it be to find definitions for the
several groups of Oscines, whether we make them more or fewer, it is by no means so
hard, if we go the right way to work, to determine which of them is the highest [most
specialized], and, possibly, which of them is the lowest [most generalized].” But it
must at the same time be borne in mind that a linear arrangement is as impossible in
this as in any other polymorphous group; an attempt to arrange all the forms belong-
ing here, 1n one natural series, is bound to fail, because it is against Nature.

In most modern systems we find that the ‘highest’ position has been granted the
Turdidx, partly because some of that family are among the best songsters, partly
because they possess the most specialized tarsus, the scales, both in front and behind,

VOL. Iv. —31

482 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

being fused into continuous lamina, or ‘boots.’ Professor Newton has made a very
successful assault upon this arrangement, the most forcible argument being the rather
generalized state of their coloration, the young ones being very different from the
adults, and spotted. But he is probably going too far when he thinks that “so far
from the Turdid being at the head of the Oscines, they are among its lower mem-
bers.” This view is entirely opposed to that of Professor Parker, whom Newton quotes
in defence of his assigning the first position to the crows. But if Parker's opinion
has any weight as to one family, it probably is of some importance in regard to
another; and as to the “warblers,” as typified by the European redstart, which
most certainly belongs to the Turdidi, the latter gentleman says that “in the fulness
of their organization as to all that lifts a bird on high above a reptile, or above a rep-
tilian bird, these types are, as to family, what a blood-horse is as to breed; they are
of the highest and the purest blood. That these birds (the very aristocracy of the
‘ Oscines,’ or songsters) are small does not much affect the question; for if we wish
to look for a dow bird of mean reptilian blood, we search for it amongst the ponderous
giants.”

In order to find out the most specialized form of the Passeres, we must look for
the bird which is most specialized in all directions, not only as to the coloration of its
plumage, or the fusion of its tarsal covering. The ideally highest form of this super-
family would have booted tarsi, nine primaries, long mandibular symphysis, powerful
bill for grain-crushing, a digestive system adapted to grain-feeding, and coloration of
young and adults unspotted and similar. That this is the regular course and ultimate
end of the evolution among the higher birds is evident from the fact that we can trace
it in nearly all the groups, and in the individual development of the birds possessing
these characters. Thus the young of birds with booted tarsus have the tarsal cover-
ing yet divided into seutelle ; in nine primaried birds the tenth primary can be seen
in the unfledged young, and in those with the tenth (usually called the first) primary
aborted, it is longer in the young bird than in the adult; grain-feeding species are
insectivorous and feeble-billed when young, and in young birds the symphysis of the
mandibular rami is shorter than in the adults; and, finally, a uniformly colored
plumage usually develops from a spotted one, and, as far as we know, never a spotted
plumage out of a uniform one.

A passeroid bird combining all these characters is not known, but the above com-
bination is that standard by which the different claimants have to be compared. The
form which comes nearest to the standard will have to take the ‘highest’ place.

It is then apparent that the Turdidx, whether including both thrushes and Old
World warblers, or only the former, do not fill the bill, in spite of the booted tarsi.
The little kinglets (2egulus) which combine this character with an unspotted young
plumage make a good showing, and should stand highest in their family; but their
beak and palate are not particularly specialized, and the wing has ten primaries.

The Corvide, or crows, have recently come to the front, advocated by Professor
Newton, who thinks that “he would be a bold man who would venture to gainsay ”
Parker’s opinion, that “in all respects, physiological, morphological, and ornithologi-
cal, the crow may be placed at the head, not only of its own great series (birds of the
crow form), but also as the unchallenged chief of the whole of the ‘Carinate.’” Not
only has Parker himself partly neutralized, not to say gainsaid, this passage by the
one quoted above, but I think that the risk in challenging the crow’s claims can-
not be so very great. This type of the genus Corvus does certainly not stand the

PASSEROIDE &. 483

morphological test above alluded to. The character of the corvine tarsus is very
‘low? indeed, and it may even be questioned if it can be called laminiplantar. I sub-
mit Fig. 234, drawn by myself from a fresh specimen of an old raven (Corvus behring-
ianus), from which it will be seen that the plantar covering consists of one lamina
on each side, separated from the other by one row, and from the anterior scuta by
one or more rows of scutelle. The crows, furthermore, haye ten primaries, the first
(tenth) one being among the longest in oscinine birds. The bill, in spite of its
strength and size, is not particularly spe-
cialized, and the symphysis of the lower
mandible is remarkably short throughout
nearly all the family. There remains the
color-character of the plumage, which, if
considered alone, would procure a high
rank for the crows; but several other
groups might claim the same with equal
propriety. But then it is urged that the
crows, in regard to the relative size and
weight of the brain as compared with the — Fre. 234.— Right tarsus of Corvus ; inner (above) and
body, take a high and exceptional position, cisee avy (are:

and that the “likeness between young and old is, so far as is known, common to every
member of the family,” while it does “ not extend to more than a portion, and generally
a small portion,” of the other groups in which a similar likeness occurs. I will assert,
however, that this is not exactly the case, and that the Paride, or tits, will be equally
entitled to the highest rank on the same grounds. For in all Paride undoubtedly
belonging to the family, the color of the adults and young is essentially alike, and,
as a whole, the magnitude of their brain is not less. Moreover, the uniformity of
the coryine plumage is not so exceptionless as Professor Newton thinks, for the young
of the Canada jays (Perisoreus) differ considerably from the adults, and the young
nut-crackers (Vucifraga) are much more speckled than the adults.

In my search for the most specialized Passeres, I have fallen back on Sundevall’s
original idea of placing the Conirostres, or finch-forms, at the end (or the head, as
others would say) of the series. True, their tarsi are not booted, but in all the other
points the most specialized genera come up to the standard above alluded to. This
will be easier demonstrated by taking one example, for which we select one of the spe-
cies to be placed at the end, namely, our evening grosbeak (//esperiphona vespertina).
The number of its primaries is reduced to nine; the mandibular symphysis is well
developed, and the palatine and facial part of the skull is highly specialized, and so is
the digestive canal. Furthermore, the plumage of the young is essentially like that
of the adults. It even seems as if the development of the brain can be no serious

objection against the finches, since, according to Tiedemann, as quoted by Newton,
the proportion which the brain bears to the body in the European goldfinch ( Carduelis
carduelis), and in the canary-bird (Serinus canarius) is as one to fourteen. The
‘high’ condition of the palatal structure is clearly demonstrated by the fact that in
the typical Fringillida the moieties of the vomer are well coalesced as early as the
middle of incubation.

The above theory may be supported by additional reasons, but here is not the
place to go further into detail. There remain to be said only a few words in regard
to the characters by which the Passeroidew are usually subdivided. The arrangements

484 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

of this vast multitude of forms are confessedly anything but natural. Several single
characters have been employed, but in every case the result has been that some forms
were separated from their nearest allies, the relationship of which is so clear that it
cannot be disputed ; hence the systematist was compelled to take them into a group
from which the characters given excluded them and made them ‘exceptions.’ It has
repeatedly been attempted to establish sections higher than families, but without suc-
cess. Wallace’s proposition to employ the number of primaries as an easy means of
separating large groups has received considerable favor, but the fact that none of the
groups are without ‘exceptions, and that nine and ten primaries may occur within
the same genus, makes the scheme valueless in
anatural classification. The fact is, really, that
the tenth (first) primary is not absolutely want-
ing in the ‘nine-primaried’ Passeres, but its
size is so extremely reduced as to become quite
or nearly invisible in the old birds, the more so
since its position is also slightly changed, as it
is forced up on the upper surface of the wing.
Not so in the young, however. Ina very young
Fic. 235.— Primaries and first secondaries of SPecimen of the snow-flake (Plectrophenax niva-

Wing of fledgling Plectrophenax enlarged one Js), a ‘nine-primaried’ species, now before me,

and one half times, from above; a, alula; c9p, x 2 ‘i =

covert of penultimate, and cl0p, covert of last the outermost (tenth) primary is plainly visible

primary ; gc, greater coverts; p, primaries; 9p, | a — ’

penultimate primary ; 10p, ultimate (first) pri- jn its natural position, and with the correspond-

mary ; 8, secondaries. cS zines a ITC

Ing gr sat covert in its proper place, that Is, In

the interval between the ultimate and penultimate primaries, as shown in the accom-
panying cut (Fig. 235). From this will be easily perceived how perverse is the method
of counting the primaries from the edge of the wing, since, in nine-primaried birds,
the feather which is usually called the first in reality corresponds to the second of
the ten-primaried species. By counting from the secondaries, no difficulty is
experienced.

Since Cuvier’s days, however, the Passeres have most commonly been gathered
into groups according to the shape of the bill, and the section names ending in -rostres
are familiar to everybody. For convenience they have been employed eyen in the
latest systems, though confessedly only in default of something better. Believing
that their retention is a decided obstacle to a natural arrangement, we shall take no
further notice of them. It may be proper to enumerate them, however, since they
play a considerable réle in the ornithological nomenclature. According to Sclater’s
arrangement of the laminiplantar Passeres, these sections are as follows: —

Dentirostres, comprising thrushes, wrens, warblers, tits, Old World fly-catchers, pipits, ete. ;

Latirostres, for the swallows:

Curvirostres, creepers and nuthatches;

Tenuirostres, sun-birds, honey-suckers, ete. ;

Conirostres, finches, weaver-birds, tanagers;

Cultrirostres, crows, pies, jays, starlings, grackles, birds-of-Paradise, etc.

We do not claim, however, that the arrangement to be applied in the following is
quite natural in all its detail. The exact affinities of many forms are as yet very ob-
scure, or in dispute, while in many other instances we are still ignorant of the nature
of some important characters, whether we shall regard them as generalized or spe-
cialized features. But we must warn against any criticism charging unnaturalness on

LARKS. 485

account of distantly related forms having been placed in juxtaposition in the linear
sequence. The allied forms must be looked for at the root of each series, not at the
end. Regarding our system as a tree, it is our plan to place it on paper by working
from the stem up the first branch to its top, then descending to the base of the next
branch, to again work upwards, and so on until the top of the last branch is reached.
In cases of reasonable doubt, however, we propose to give the conventional arrange-
ment the benefit of the doubt.

FG. 236. — Alauda arborea, wood-lark (upper) ; A. arvensis, sky-lark (left); A. cristata, crested-lark (right).

This last paragraph is applicable to the family of the larks, the Anaupinz.
They have sorely troubled systematists by apparently exhibiting characters of two
groups as diverse as the Motacillidze and the Emberizinw, and at the same time pos-
sessing a feature so unique within the present super-family as to prevent their proper
assignment to either. This peculiarity consists in the holaspidean tarsi, technically
making them scutelliplantar, the hind surface of the tarsus being broken up into scutes
similar to those covering the front part. This is generally regarded as a generalized
feature, hence the larks are usually placed at the bottom. We have a strong sus-

486 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

picion that this view is quite erroneous, but accept the present position at least pro-
visionally, Additional characters of less importance are the length of the last
secondaries, the ends of which nearly reach the tip of the folded wing; the usually
strong and conical bill; the elongated and straight hind claw; the very short first
(tenth) primary, visible in all, though extremely reduced in some; and the peculiar
sandy-brown plumage longitudinally streaked with dusky. So general is the uniform-
ity of the plumage that ‘lark-colored’ has become a technical term. This style is
well illustrated in the accompanying cut, which represents three common European
species, Alauda arborea, A. arvensis, and A. cristata. There are, however, several
forms which show considerable differentiation in color, as, for instance, a number of
pale sandy-colored desert-forms, among which the long-legged, long-billed Certhilauda
alaudipes ; the curious South African MWegalophonus apiatus, with the nostrils not
covered by the usual bristles, and a coloration highly suggestive of that of a quail;
the black Melanocorypha yeltonensis, from western Siberia; the unspotted Ammo-
manes pheenicura, with the basal half of the tail rusty, and the tip blackish; the
sparrow-like Pyrhulauda grisea, with the middle of the lower surface black. Sev-
eral of the last mentioned forms have a somewhat lengthened first primary, while in
some the secondaries are short as in most birds, a feature which reaches its maximum
in the genus Pterocorys. Finally, we have to mention the shore-larks, or horned-larks
( Otocoris), which are easily recognizable on account of the curious elongated tuft over
each eye forming a kind of pointed hornlet. To us they are of special interest, since
they are the only larks which occur regularly in this hemisphere; for the European
skylark has only a right to a place in our fauna as a straggler to Greenland and the
Bermudas. This latter bird is the most famous and familiar of the whole group, being
one of the favorite migratory birds, the early arrival of which, in spring, is a weleome
messenger from a milder sky in those countries where it makes its home. This, in
connection with its marvellous song, has made the skylark a favorite with writers and
poets, in this respect successfully rivalling with the nightingale. We quote from Yar-
rell: “It is an inhabitant of all the countries of Europe, preferring cultivated dis-
tricts, and particularly arable land. Here in early spring its cheerful and exhilarating
song, fresh as the season, is the admiration of all. The bird rises on quivering wing,
almost perpendicularly, singing as he flies, and even after gaining an extraordinary
elevation so powerful is his voice that his wild, joyous notes may be heard distinctly
when the pained eye can trace his course no longer; but an ear well tuned to his song
can yet determine by the notes whether he is still ascending, stationary, or on the
descent, for the strain is continued on his downward course till he approaches the
ground, when it stops abruptly, and with a headlong dart the bird alights.” The sky-
lark likewise has a high reputation as a dainty for the table, and was formerly caught
during the fall migrations in incredible numbers. Thus it is estimated that during the
last century, in Leipzig alone, over five million larks were received annually; in 1854
there were brought to the London markets about four hundred thousands, and the official
returns state that in 1867-68 more than a million and a quarter were taken into the
town of Dieppe, France. These stupendous figures make it easy to understand that
during the cold season the larks ‘do a considerable amount of damage to the autumn-
sown wheat, if the ground be free from snow, and to such green crops as they may
find.” It is, therefore, a matter of congratulation, that the attempt to introduce the
skylark into our country has not proved a success, as otherwise we should have had a
repetition of our deplorable experience with the English sparrow.

PIPITS. 487

The family Alaudidse comprises more than one hundred species, especially char-
acteristic of the plains and deserts of the Eurasiatic continent and Africa, while only
a few forms, evidently recent immigrants, are found in the Australian and the Neo-
geean regions.

As already indicated, it is a question whether the general resemblance which the
larks present to certain Moracti1ip&, especially the pipits (Anthus), is anything more
than a superficial analogy. At any rate, the similarity in external appearance between

FiG. 237. — European pipits (Anthus).

certain pipits and the typical larks is certainly astonishing, and he who attempts to dis-
tinguish between some of the species without looking closely at the hind side of the tar-
sus, or at the nostrils, which in the pipits are exposed, will find himself in a bad fix ; for
the resemblance not only affects the coloration both in general and in detail, but also
the elongated hind claw, and the long inner secondaries. Even in the habits there is
considerable likeness, for the pipits have a manner of singing when on the wing quite
similar to that of the larks, though the song itself is much inferior. Physiologically

488 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

there is a great difference between the two groups, since the pipits molt twice a year,
while larks only molt once. The pipits are nearly cosmopolitan, several Old World
species being figured in the accompanying cut, and are pretty well represented in
America. The Old World tree-pipit (A. rivialis) deserves special notice, since its
arboreal habits are an exception to the rest of the species. Of other exotic forms
we shall only mention the Ethiopian genus Macronyax, rem arkable for its large feet,
and especially interesting for its most extraordinary external resemblance to the dif-

Fia. 238. — Enicurus leschenaulti, Leschenault’s fork-tail.

ferent species of the American meadow-larks (Stvrnella), of quite another and remote
family, a likeness which is nearly as striking as that of the typical pipits and larks,
the more curious since we find species (for instance, Jf. croceus) which represent the
yellow style of our North American meadow-lark, with black breast-patch, alongside
another form, I amelie, from Natal, which assumes the pinkish under-surface of
Sturnella defilippii, of South America.

The wag-tails proper (Motacilla) structurally agree very well with the pipits, but

FORK-TAILS. 429

present quite a different style of coloration, black, gray, and white or yellow being
distributed in continuous areas and not broken up into stripes or mottlings. Like the
pipits, they are very partial to the neighborhood of water, running or stagnant, and
like them they are nearly exclusively terrestrial in their habits, running gracefully and
swiftly over the ground, putting one foot in front of the other, and jerking the long
tail up and down. Their geographical distribution is noticeable, since no form is in-
digenous in the New World, the yellow wag-tail (Gudytes flavus leucostriatus) oceur-
ring in Alaska being only a slight eastern race of the typical European form, which
but recently has extended its range into the northwestern corner of our continent.

A small group of anomalous birds, the exact position of which is nearly as doubt-
ful now as it was some sixty years ago, when the first species was discovered, are next
to be mentioned. The fork-tails, on account of a certain resemblance in form, color,
and habits, have been placed by most authors near Wotacilla ; others have referred
them to the immediate vicinity of the water-ouzel (Cinclus) ; while Mr. R. B. Sharpe
has given them place as an ‘aberrant group’ in the Timaliida, on account of the
form of the wing, the first (tenth) primary being rather long and well developed.
Under the circumstances, it seems to us preferable to keep them separate from the
rest, and until a satisfactory place be found for them we shall designate them as Ent
curip&. Only eleven species, belonging to three genera, are known, their range
being from the Indian and Chinese Himalayas down through the Burmese countries
to the Malay peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. The most
characteristic species and the type of the genus Enicwrus is figured in the accompany-
ing cut, which needs no further comment, since the colors are black and white, as seen
in the drawing. There is one feature of the coloration of these birds of uncertain
affinity, which is of great interest, viz., the white tips to the rectrices. We call special
attention to this fact, because we have recently seen it asserted that such a style of the
tail-feathers is only found in birds with rounded or graduated tail. This ‘exception’
is the more remarkable, since Microcichla scowleri, which has a short and nearly
square tail, has no such white marks at the end of the rectrices. As to their habits,
Mr. H. J. Elwes remarks that “their motions are so active and lively that they form
a conspicuous feature in Himalayan scenery, being usually found, either singly or in
pairs, flitting rapidly from rock to rock by the side of the most rapid torrents. They
appear to be very partial to the neighborhood of a waterfall or rapid. They make a
large nest of moss and fibres, which is placed under a rock close to the water. Their
food consists of insects, larvze, water-beetles, and small shells.”

Before leaving the Enicuridz, however, I would like to record my suspicions that
they are not laminiplantar or even oscinine at all. The tarsi are ‘booted,’ it is true,
but the posterior aspect is rounded, and not sharp-edged, as in typical laminiplantar
birds. In other words, I find the tarsus to agree very closely with that of the ‘booted’
species of Pitta, in the neighborhood of which I believe that the nicuri will finally
have to be placed, as soon as their anatomy shall have become known.

In their attempts at framing natural families among the Oscines, the different
monographers have thrown out of the old-fashioned artificial groups which formerly
were honored by that rank all the inconvenient forms which would not properly fit
into the new scheme, without providing another or better place for them in the sys-
tem. As they had to be accommodated somewhere, and as many systematists have a
great horror of ‘families’ consisting of only a few genera or even a few species, all
these heterogeneous forms were put into the great ‘waste-basket’? which has been

490 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

called the Tramp, or ‘babbling-thrushes.’ While taking a goodly number of
forms out of this heterogeneous assemblage, we will yet have to leave enough in it to
justify the epithet above, as this is manifestly not the place to attempt unravelling
the tangle into which modern systems have brought themselves.

The Timaliide form quite an extensive group, consisting almost exclusively of
tropical Old World types, which, speaking in a general way, may be said to resemble
the true thrushes, differing chiefly in not having the anterior tarsal scutes fused, and
in having their wings strongly concave, so as to fit closely to the body. With the
exception of one pretty well defined group within the family, most of the birds which
we include in it are very modestly colored, rufous being a very common ground-color,
or with admixture with white, gray, and black. In this respect the ‘babblers’ show
considerable similarity to the Formicaroides, offering another proof of how erroneous
is the popular belief that the tropical birds must necessarily be brilliantly colored.

Out of the nearly four hundred and fifty species’ composing this family there will
only be space to mention a few of the most prominent forms. The remarkable spine-
tailed Orthonyx temminckii, from eastern Australia, is noteworthy for the fact that
grave doubts as to its oscinine nature were entertained until quite recently, when
Forbes, in 1882, demonstrated its mesomyodian character. This bird also deserves to
be mentioned on account of an anatomical feature which is unique, inasmuch as the
left carotid (the only one developed, as in all Passeres) “is not contained anywhere
in the subvertebral canal, but runs up superficially in company with the left vagus
nerve to near the head, where it bifureates in the usual manner.” Another strange
form, the true passerine nature of which has only been shown recently, is the Malayan
and Papuan genus Hupetes, the type species of which, 4. macrocercus, is said to have
a great external resemblance to Wesites. The bill is long, and the head and neck are
covered with very short velvety feathers, causing the neck to look disproportionately
thin; over the eye a silky white streak.

There are many other genera, some of which resemble shrikes, others which look
more like jays, others again which personate the thrushes or Ramage Kenopia stri-
ata, from the Malay Peninsul: a, in its coloration strongly recalls a Dendrocolaptes,
but the feathers of the lower back are very long and soft, a feature characteristic of
many true timaliine birds; it is carried to an excess in Macronus ptilosus, from the
same country, in which, moreoyer, the shafts are broadened, stiffened, and white-
colored. First in the Pycnonotinz, bulbuls, or fruit-thrushes, are found more bril-
liantly colored species, among which we may mention the different species of Pycno-
notus, brownish gray birds, with more or less blackish head, and easily recognizable
by having the under tail-coverts brightly colored, either red or yellow. Another genus
which is now referred to this group is Zrena, containing the fairy bluebirds, brilliantly
blue and black colored birds, as large as robins, and characteristic of the oriental re-
gion from central India eastward to the Philippine Islands. Another group, which
has often been regarded as a separate family or sub-family, has also recently been
united with the foregoing genera, viz., the green bulbuls ( ChZoropsis and allies), a
small group of oriental fruit-eating birds of brilliant green plumage, on the head often
adorned with blue, yellow, and black. The genus Criniger is especially remarkable
for the long and extremely thin hairs which protrude between the feathers of the head
and hind neck, and for the very stiff bristles at the mouth angle.

Little is known about the habits of the timaliine birds. Of Pycnonotus hemor-
rhous Captain Legge writes as follows: “The Madras bulbul affects gardens, com-

BULBULS. 491

pounds, cinnamon plantations, the vicinity of roads, low jungle, open scrubby land,
and the edges of forest. It is a fearless and very sprightly bird, most active and
animated in its manners, erecting its conspicuous crest to full height as it sits on the
top of a bush chirping to its companions. It locates itself in close proximity to
houses, and not unfrequently builds its nest in verandahs, and is consequently a uni-
versal favorite with Europeans, who rate its attempts at singing so highly that it is
styled by many the ‘Ceylon nightingale. As a matter of fact, however, its notes
have but little music in them, but it is constantly uttering its quick chirruping warble,
which, in the breeding season, is to a certain extent more melodious than at other
times. Its food consists of insects, as well as fruit and seeds of all kinds, the berry

F1G. 239. — Accentor modularis, hedge-sparrow ; A. collaris, Alpine acecentor.

of the Lantana plant being a favorite diet, a fact which conduces to the propagation
and spreading of this horticultural pest. In the evening little parties of bulbuls as-
semble, and after a great deal of excitement and chattering they choose a roosting-
place in some thick bush or umbrageous shrub.”

Of somewhat doubtful relation to the Timaliide are the African Eremomelina,
nearly fifty species of warbler-like birds, which may perhaps be better placed among
the Sylviidw. Still more uncertain is the position of another group, which is often
recognized as a separate family under the name of Le1orricawx. The ‘hill-tits,
comprising nearly sixty species, peculiar to the Himalayas and the oriental region,
have a varied plumage, often brightly colored, and with prominent markings on the
wing. They feed especially on berries and insects. The best known species is the

492 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

red-billed hill-tit (Letothrix lutea), by dealers in living birds often called ‘the Japan-
ese robin,’ though not occurring at all in Japan. On account of its beautiful colors,
its pleasant song, and its tame and gentle manners, it is often kept in confinement,
and instances of its having bred in cage are now quite numerous.

But it is not only the species living in the tropics, and of difficult access, the rela-
tionship of which is obscure and disputed. In the accompanying cut are represented
two European species, the hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis), and the Alpine
accentor (A. collaris), members of a very small group of birds, scattered over the
Palearctic region, and chiefly noted for the somewhat sparrow-like inflection of the
cutting edges of the bill. The former is a very modestly brownish-colored bird, and
partial to hedges and bushes, light woods and gardens, while the Alpine accentor is
richly tinged with rufous on the back, and very conspicuous for the beautiful
black-and-white design of the throat. This species is found in the European Alps,
above the tree limit, where in summer it lives among the rocks, coming down in win-
ter into the valleys; allied species occur in all the high mountain ranges of the south-
ern part of the Palearctic region. Various authors have placed these birds with the
Old World warblers, the thrushes, the tits, the sparrows, the American bluebirds, or
the babblers. We have followed the latter course, as quite non-committal, since leav-
ing a bird among the Timaliidze means nothing more than saying that its true position
is still unknown or doubtful.

In this country we usually designate the tyrant-birds as the ‘ fly-catchers, a name,
however, which properly should be restricted to the members of the Old World fam-
ily, the Muscicapma. They are chiefly characterized by a broad, depressed bill, with
heavy bristles at the gape, mostly seutellated lamelliplantar tarsus, a short first (tenth)
primary, and a spotted young plumage radically distinct from that of the adults. The
propriety of regarding the fly-catchers as a group of family rank may well be ques-
tioned, however, at least as it is currently defined and adopted, since it seems to fade
gradually into the Timaliidee on one hand, and into the Turdide, or thrushes, on the
other,

Two common European species, the spotted fly-catcher (Muscicapa grisola), and
the pied fly-catcher (icedula atricapilla), ave illustrated in the cut as well known
members of the family, the former brownish gray, slightly spotted underneath, and
both sexes alike, the latter, an adult male, pure black and white, while the female and
the young are grayish. I am bound to say, however, that I am inclined to adopt Sun-
deyall’s view of the latter species and its allies, among which are the minute, rusty-
throated Erythrosterna, as being only distantly related to the former. Within the
conventional limits of this family are included about four hundred species, very differ-
ent in structure and plumage, but all limited to the Old World. In the tropics the
fly-catchers reach a great development, and many interesting forms, the names of
which alone would take up too much space, occur. Yet we cannot pass by the Para-
dise fly-catchers ( Zerpsiphone) in silence, adorned as they are more after the fashion
of a quezal than that of a bird-of-Paradise, with extremely elongated middle tail-
feathers, measuring in some of these small birds not less than twelve inches. The old
males, for instance, of 7. paradisi, in their white plumage, with the crested glossy
blackish-green head, are exquisite, but it takes considerable time before they attain
this perfect plumage, according to the latest theories, as the young male is said to
pass several seasons in the reddish brown dress of the female, even after having
attained long tail-feathers, Other remarkable forms are the fan-tails (Jthipidura), a

THRUSHES. 493

numerous genus inhabiting the oriental and Australian regions, which have obtained
their name from their habits of spreading out the tail to its full extent while darting
after the insects. The Australian ‘grinder’ (Sisewra inguieta) has been so called by
the colonists on account of the peculiar voice, which is “something like that caused
by a razor-grinder at work.” This curious voice is not its call-note, however, but is
only uttered when hovering over the ground like a small faleon, probably in order to
attract the attention of the insects upon which it darts headlong.

On the whole, the habits of the fly-catchers are very uniform, or ‘monotonous,’ as

Eg te
CHMubcel
EY Sa ie

=

ana ey

FiG. 240. — Muscicapa grisola, spotted fly-catcher ; Ficedula atricapilla, pied fly-catcher.

a recent author has called them. In nearly exclusively catching their prey while on
the wing, they closely resemble the American tyrants, with which for a long time
they were united in the systems.

Gradually the fly-catchers with the broad, depressed bills fade into the more nar-
row-billed thrushes, the central groups of which are characterized by a young plumage
spotted with whitish or ochraceous, and usually by ‘booted’ tarsi. From the oldest
genus, the family may be called Turpm#, though embracing a number of forms which
are often dignified as Sylviide, Saxicolidw, ete. The limits of this ‘family’ are a
matter of doubt, but a rough estimate will give about eight hundred species belong-
ing to a bewildering number of genera. No wonder that a group of such extent is
cosmopolitan in its distribution, for the Turdide occur from the bleak Arctic and
Antarctic regions to the equator, not only populating the wide continents, but pene-
trating to the remotest islands, where they often specialize into very interesting gen-

494 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

eric forms, as, for instance, the thrush (Nesocichla eremita), which inhabits Tristran
d’Acunha, an island in mid-Atlantic, “ one of the most remote and isolated spots on
the globe.” The family is only scantily represented in America, the thrushes and
some few allied forms being only a small proportion of the enormous number of Old
World ‘ warblers.’

Some of these American forms, however, belong to the most interesting, among
which, on account of their apparent relationship to the Old World fly-catchers, the
solitaires or ftly-catching thrushes (Myadestes) stand first. One species occurs in
the middle and western parts of our country, though the headquarters of this genus
is Central America and the Antilles, nearly every one of the mountainous islands
being inhabited by a distinct species. They are known as exquisite songsters of very
retired habits. An abstract of Mr. F. Ober’s account of the ‘invisible bird’ of St.
Vincent, one of the smaller Antilles, may not be out of place. Its systematic name
is I sibilans ; it is blackish above and orange-rufous beneath, one of the most distinct
species of the group. Mr. Ober writes as follows: “The local name of the ‘Sou-
friére-bird,’ from the French word sowfriére, a sulphur mountain, an inhabitant of the
voleano, has been obtained from the Caribs and the negroes, as the bird is rarely heard
outside a gunshot limit from the crater. Its habitat is strictly mountainous, and I do
not think it is ever found at a lesser height than one thousand feet above the sea;
and in the dark ravines and gorges seaming the sides of the cone it finds a congenial
retreat. It resembles a closely-allied bird of Dominica, the ‘mountain whistler, in
many particulars, especially in its habits of seclusion, shyness, and melody of song.
It is, however, much shyer than even the Dominica bird ; and, while the latter seems
to prefer the solitude of dark gorges more from a love of retirement than fear of man,
the soufriére-bird is timid, even suspiciously watchful of man’s presence, and flies from
his approach. In its wild, sweet, melancholy music, it strikingly resembles the
‘mountain whistler,’ but the notes are different. From the dense thicket of trees
bordering the trail around the crater this bird sends forth its mystic music, and darts
away at the slightest indication of human proximity to its haunts. As the earth sup-
porting the trees it inhabits is cut into every conceivable shape of hole, rut, and
ravine, and as, moreover, the place swarms with monster snakes, the terror of the
negroes, almost the only people crossing the mountain, it has been connected with the
superstitions of the negro, and has ever remained the ‘ invisible, mysterious bird with
the heavenly song. The Indians avoided its haunts, and regarded with veneration
this bird that filled the air with unearthly melody; for generations they have pre-
served the tradition of its existence, and vaguely associated it with the tutelar deity
of the volcano.”

Not distantly related are our lovely bluebirds (Sialia), a group which has been
considerably knocked about in the systems. It is really rather isolated, and the only
very nearly allied form is Ridgwayia pinicola, from the high pine woods of Mexico,
a rare species of very limited distribution. It is colored very much hke a bluebird
in the first plumage, but is much larger.

It will be necessary to confine our remarks to such forms as are illustrated in the
accompanying cuts.

In the first we have two European representatives of the genus Zwrdus, to which
also belong our North American wood-thrush (7. mustelinus), and its many small
allies. Nearest to these, and similarly colored, but with rusty under wing-coverts,
comes the figure to the left, the song-thrush (7. musicus), the musical powers of which

THRUSHES. 495

are so well described by Macgillivray that we must quote his words: “ Listen, and
think how should you deseribe the strain so as to impress its characters on the mind
of one who never heard it. Perhaps you might say that it consists of a succession of
notes, greatly diversified, repeated at short intervals with variations, and protracted
for a long time; that it is loud, clear, and mellow, generally sprightly, but at times

FiG. 241. — Turdus musicus, song-thrush ; 7’. torquatus, ring-ouzel.

tender and melting. You might add that two birds at a distance from each other
often respond, the one commencing its sone when the other has ceased, and that
sometimes several may be heard at once, filling a whole glen with their warbling.
Listen again, and say what does it resemble ?

‘*** Dear, dear, dear,
In the rocky glen;
Far away, far away, far away,
The haunts of men.

496 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

There shall we dwell in love,
With the lark and the dove,
Cuckoo and corn rail;
Feast on the banded snail,
Worm, and gilded fly;
Drink of the erystal rill,
Winding adown the hill,
Never to dry.
““* With glee, with glee, with glee,
Cheer up, cheer up, cheer up; here
Nothing to harm us; then sing merrily,
Sing to the loved one whose nest is near.
Qui, qui, qui, kween, quip,
Tiurru, tiurru, chipiwi,
Too-tee, too-tee, chiu choo,
Chirri, chirri, chooee,
Quin, qui, qui.’

“No more, pray: the thrush’s song is inimitable and indescribable. It is heard at
all seasons in fine weather, but especially in spring and summer, particularly in the
early morning and about sunset. But it is not in sunshine only that this gentle
songster warbles its wild notes; for often in the midst of the thick rain it takes its
stand in some sheltered spot, under the cover of a projecting crag or stone, and for
hours, perhaps, amuses itself with repeating its never-tiring modulations.”

The other species, the ring-ouzel (7. torguatus) is more confined to mountainous
regions, and is one of the largest and finest thrushes, black, with a conspicuous white
collar. On account of its black color it is generally believed to be closely allied to
the European blackbird (Merwla merula). This is a great mistake, however, as it
does not even belong to the same genus, and its nearest relative is the spotted missel-
thrush (7. viscivorus). The blackbird, on the other hand, is congenerie with our
American robin (JL migratoria), which it is extremely like in form and habits; but, as
the name indicates, it is black all over. The English robin (Zvrithacus rubecula), again,
is much smaller, being not larger than our bluebird, and has longer legs, but is not
otherwise very different from its American namesake. Through this form we are led
to the subjects of our next illustration, the two famous species of nightingales, the
western (Luscinia luscinia) to the left, and the larger and eastern species (LZ. philo-
mela) to the right, both inhabiting Europe, and nearly peculiar to that region. Re-
specting the former, Mr. Seebohm says: “The nightingale is a very skulking bird,
frequenting the dense undergrowth, hopping restlessly about the cover, and, when
alarmed, it instantly finds shelter amongst the tangled vegetation. The song of the
nightingale has possibly been over-praised. Its beauties have been the poet’s theme
for ages; and men have immortalized it who have probably never listened to its strains.
Fiction has described the bird as leaning against a thorn, and has thus explained the
cause of its singularly melancholy notes. The nightingale’s song, nevertheless, is not
equalled by that of any other bird; and the volume, quality, and variety of its notes
are certainly unrivalled, Tt is impossible in words to convey its delightful strains to
the reader; the bird’s haunts must be visited, and its sweetness listened to there. The
nightingale does not always sing in the hours of night, as is very popularly believed
to be the case, and it may be heard warbling at all hours of the day. Neither is the .
nightingale the only bird that sings under a starlight sky.” The nightingale is dull
brownish above, shading into whitish or grayish underneath, and in the exterior has

THRUSHES. 497

has nothing to recommend it but its elegant and graceful form. In this plainness of
dress they are equalled, however, by some Central American species of the genus
Catharus, one of which, C. gracilirostris, is most astonishingly like the true nightin-
gales, and travelers insist that their vocal powers are not inferior. On the other hand,
the plate facing page 496 shows us two northern, nearly arctic songsters, of fine musi-
cal qualities, but also adorned with the most brilliant and exquisite colors of the
throat, one, Cyanecula suecica, with the richest blue, the other, Melodes calliope, with

FiG. 242. — Luscinia luscinia, nightingale ; L. philome la, thrush-nightingale.

a lovely scarlet, which, when the warbling bird faces the setting sun, shines with the
lustre of an amethyst. The present writer can testify to the fitness of its name, the
Kamtschatkan nightingale, for, although its song is not so melancholy, or quite as
varied, as that of its western rivals, it certainly is a ‘star’ of the first order.

How nearly the thrushes and the true fly-catchers are related is illustrated by the
three species depicted in our next cut, inasmuch as the left-hand figure without dis-

pute is referred to the former, while the other two, by some recent authors, are con-
VOL. Iv. —32

498 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

sidered members of the Muscicapidse, on account of their somewhat broader bills,
shorter tarsi, and stronger rictal bristles. The wheatears (Sazicola) form a very marked
group of peculiar coloration, black and white being the chief colors, often combined
with gray on the back. Both these and the bush-chats (Pratincola) are exclusively
Old World inhabitants, with the exception of Saxicola cenanthe, the wheatear figured,
inasmuch as it invades the North American fauna from both sides, over Iceland and

Fia. 243. — Sazicola enanthe, wheatear ; Pratincola rubetra, whiuchat ; P. rubicola, stonechat.

Greenland in the east, and Alaska in the west, but its number in our continent is evi-
dently yet very small. As it is very fond of rocks and stones, it is quite at home in
the bleak northern regions, where it is a conspicuous feature by its light colors and its
peculiar habits of simultaneously jerking up the tail and dipping the breast in a spas-
modie sort of way, while emitting a curious call note, consisting of three loud clicks,
often rendered by ‘ chich-chdck-chack. The genus is principally African, and southern
species are mostly inhabitants of arid and stony deserts.

TAILOR-BIRDS. 499

The Malurine form a characteristic group of warbler-like birds, chiefly Austra-
lian, though a few species also are found in South Africa and Madagascar. Our cut
representing the emu-wren (Stipiturus malachurus), from Australia, illustrates one of
the smallest and most curious of the group, the tail-feathers being stiffened, and only
thinly supplied with barbs, so that they resemble emu-feathers; the color of the bird
is brownish, with a blue throat, but many of the species are gorgeously colored, being
in that respect not inferior to the brightest cotingas or tanagers. Amytornis textilis,
with two allied species, also from Australia, belong here, wren-like birds of brown
plumage, with curious whitish longitudinal streaks.

The bird to the left, in our next group, the faintail-warbler (Cisticola cisticola), is
in Europe the only representative of the tribe of the grass-warblers, which to us is

FiG. 244. — Stipiturus malachurus, emu-wren.

of great interest, as it contains some of the most skilled bird architects, among others
the remarkable tailor-birds. In his work on Indian birds’ nests and eggs, Mr. A. Hume
gives a full account of the structure of the nesting habits of Sutoria sutoria, from
which we make the following selection: “The Indian tailor-bird breeds throughout
India and Burmah, alike in the plains and in the hills, up to an elevation of from 3,000
to 4,000 feet. The nest has been often described and figured, and, as is well known,
is a deep soft cup enclosed in leaves, which the bird sews together to form a recepta-
cle for it. I quote an exact description of a nest which I took at Bareilly, and which
was recorded on the spot: ‘Three of the long ovato-lanceolate leaves of the mango,
whose peduncles sprang from the same point, had beei neatly drawn together with
gossamer threads run through the sides of the leaves and knotted outside, so as to
form a cavity like the end of a netted purse, with a wide slit on the side nearest the

500 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

trunk, beginning near the bottom and widening upwards. Inside this, the real nest,
nearly three inches deep and two inches in diameter, was neatly constructed of wool
and fine vegetable fibres, the bottom being thinly lined with horse-hair. In this lay
three tiny, delicate, bluish-white eggs, with a few pale reddish-brown blotches at the
large end, and just a very few spots and specks of the same color elsewhere. I have
often seen nests made between many leaves, and I have seen plenty with a dead leaf
stitched to a yet living one; but in these points my experience entirely coincides with
that of Mr, A. Anderson, whose note I proceed to yuote: ‘The dry leaves that are
sometimes met with attached to the nest of this species, and which gave rise to the

FiG. 245.— Cisticola cisticola, fantail-warbler; Cettia cetti, Cetti's bush-warbler ; Acrocephalus schenobenus,
sedge-warbler.

erroneous idea that the bird picks up a dead leaf, and, surprising to relate, sews it to
the side of a living one, are easily accounted for. I took a nest of the tailor-bird a
short time ago (11th July, 1871) from a Brinjal plant (Solanum esculentum), which
had all the appearance of having had dry leaves attached to it. The nest originally
consisted of three leaves, but two of them had been pierced (in the act of passing the
thread through them) to excess, and had in consequence not only decayed, but actually
separated from the stem of the plant. These decayed leaves were hanging from the
side of the nest by a mere thread, and could have been removed with perfect safety,’
The ground color of the eggs is either reddish-white or pale bluish-green. Of the
two types, the reddish-white is the more common, in the proportion of two to one.

WARBLERS. 501

The parent birds that lay these very different looking eggs certainly do not differ ;
of this I have positively satisfied myse/f-” The tailor itself is a small bird of warbler
size, with a graduated tail, and the central pair of rectrices considerably lengthened
beyond the others, in the male; it is olive-green above, with the crown of the head
pale brick-red, while the whole under surface is yellowish-white.

We have now arrived at the true Old World warblers (Sylviinz), the most promi-

eK OMIRMARST.

FiG. 246.— Locustella fluviatilis, L. nevia, and L. luscinioides, European grasshopper warblers.

nent European representatives of which are found delineated in the cut already
referred to under Cisticola, as well as in the two following ones and one on the plate
facing p. 496. All of them are dull-colored, gray or brownish, and we shall therefore
dispense with any description of their appearance, reserving the space for a few
remarks on their most salient peculiarities.

Cettia cetti, the upper figure on page 500, belongs to a group of warblers charac-
terized by having only ten tail-feathers. They are chiefly central Asiatic, but the
species in question inhabits the Mediterranean region.

502 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The third bird in the same cut is the sedge-warbler (Acrocephalus sheenobenus),
one of the commonest species of this genus in Europe, breeding among sedges and
reeds, or in the willows of marshes, and by the water-side as far north as Tromsé in
Norway. In contradistinction to the following group, the reed-warblers, as they are
called generically, are possessed of considerable powers of song, while the name of
the grasshopper-warblers (Zocustella) clearly indicates the character of their musical
gifts. Three European species are figured in our cut, all of which inhabit marshy
districts and reed-beds. Their habits are said to be very skulking and partly noc-
turnal. My own experience in Kamtschatka with a near ally of Z. nevia, viz,
L. hendersonii, is very different, and deserves a place here.

It was, as I thought, under rather peculiar circumstances that I made the first
acquaintance of the grasshopper-warbler. From what I had read about the habits of
allied species, and conjectured from the manners of Acrocephalus ochotensis, I listened
for this bird about and after sunset, wherever willows were abundant, in the marshy
valley bottoms. I recollected the many poetical accounts of ornithological enthusiasts
waiting in the wet swamps for the moon’s rising over the white vapors, when the males
of LZ. nevia would commence their strange chirping, and, invisible to the bewitched
naturalist, mock round him like mischievous elves, now pitching their ventriloquous
notes to the left, now to the right, until the gunning poet, in bewilderment and des-
pair, sends a shot at random in the direction from whence the creaking thrills seem to
proceed. So I tried patiently to get enchanted, bewildered, water-soaked, and mos-
quito-bitten, too; but no Locustella /

It was a very hot day in the summer of 1882, in fact the last day of June, that I
took an ornithological morning ramble to a broad valley just behind the rounded hills
upon the sloping base of which Petropaulski is situated. The weather had been dry
and warm for a considerable time; the vegetation was longing for rain, and the soil
was gray and dusty. At last I determined to return; the tropical rays of the sun at
noon had silenced all birds, and the only living being in the neighborhood not seeking
the cool shade was the mosquito-phobious naturalist. Suddenly I was struck by the
vigorous and rather protracted chirp of a heat-despising cricket. Something in its
note led me to wish to get hold of the producer, so I cautiously proceeded in the
direction of the sound. Zirrrrr...... ! But who describes my astonishment when I
found that the supposed cicada was a small bird facing the sun from the top of a
broken and dead birch! As he did not mind the noise I made when breaking my
way through the five feet high grass, if I only took care to stop whenever he inter-
rupted his curious love-song, his fate was soon sealed. It is needless to say that 1
now became an attentive listener to the grating sounds of the locusts, and half an hour
later I was rewarded by another male, which I shot from the outer branches of a leaf-
clad Betula ermani.

The Old World warblers (Sylvia), as we are obliged to term them in contradis-
tinction to our American nine-primaried warblers, are very interesting on account of
their geographical distribution. It is very generally asserted that the western Pala-
arctic region, or the European sub-region, have no characteristic birds of their own.
The warblers proper, however, seem to have their headquarters in the region surround-
ing the Mediterranean, while quite a number inhabit central and northern Europe
without extending into Siberia, though several southern species breed as far east as
Turkestan. Most of the migratory species winter in Africa. The plate facing page
496 illustrates two southwestern species, Agrobates galactotes, the rufous warbler,

WARBLERS. 503

easily recognizable by the sub-terminal dark band on the tail, a native of the Spanish
peninsula and North Africa, and Sylvia orphea, which extends its range a little further
north. The latter is not unlike the black-cap (S. atricapilla), the lower figure on this
page, gray, with the upper part of the head black, one of the commonest and _ best-
known warblers of Europe, in Scandinavia ranging north to 69° north latitude. The
black-cap is highly esteemed for its melodious song, and therefore often held in con-
finement. Says Mr. Dixon: “ You hear a soft, plaintive note, sounding as though its
author were a hundred yards away; gradually it rises in its tone; you think the bird

FiG. 247. — Sylvia nisoria, barred warbler ; S. salicaria, garden warbler ; S. atricapilla, black-cap.

is coming nearer; louder and louder become the notes, till they sound as if the black-
bird, song-thrush, wren, robin, and warbler were all singing together. You perchance
east your eyes into the branches above, and there see the little black-eapped songster ;
and, after watching him, find that all these lovely notes, low and soft, loud and full,
come from his little throat alone, and when at the same distance from you — so great
are his powers of modulation.” The two other species represented in the same cut
are also well-known European warblers, S. nisoria being one of the largest and most
distinctly-marked species. Its breeding range seems to be very peculiar, since it is
only known to breed in a rather narrow belt from southern Sweden through Germany,

504 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

south Russia, Persia, and Turkestan, wandering southward in winter into Africa. It
is a very shy and skulking bird, and may therefore easily be overlooked.

Our last picture of sylviine species represents birds of which allied species also
occur in this country. The upper figure is a Siberian willow-warbler, related to
Phyllopseustes borealis, a comparatively recent immigrant into Alaska, where a small
breeding colony has settled, the members of which in fall migrate southward through
eastern Asia. In general aspect the willow-warblers resemble the kinglets (Regulinz),
which are easily distinguished by their yellow and red — nearly tyrannine — crown-
patches, and by having booted tarsi. Their exact position is still a matter of some

PG, 248. — Phyllopseustes superciliosus, yellow-browed willow-warbler (upper figure); Regulus ignicapillus, fire-
crest; 2. regulus, gold-crest.
uncertainty, and many authors refer them to the tits. The lower figure to the left is
the European fire-crest (Regulus ignicapillus), in a cut indistinguishable from our
North American 2. satrapa. The gold-crest (72. regulus) is the other European species.
It was evidently a step towards a natural arrangement when lately the dippers
and the mocking-birds were removed from the thrushes and associated more or less
intimately with the wrens; and probably the Chamea should not be kept outside of
this assemblage. JT may also remark here, as we have just finished the Sylviidw with-
out mentioning the North American Polioptiline, that I regard the latter as closely
allied to the mocking-birds, and that T consequently refer them to the family Mimide.
It seems advisable for the present to retain the conventional family names.

WRENS. 505

The general aspect and the habits of the dippers, which alone compose the
Crvciip&, are alike curious. They are birds of the size of a thrush, have short con-
cave wings, as the Timaliide, a stumped tail, like some formicaroid birds, and a cover-
ing of down underneath the contour-feathers, like a water-bird. The oil gland, too,
is very large, as in the latter, and serves the same purpose, for the dippers are as
expert divers and as much ‘ water-birds’ as most of those commonly so called. They
are among the Oscines what the kingfishers are among the Picarians; but while the
latter dart headlong into the water after their prey, like terns, the dippers dive like
loons, but without jumping, and frequent rocky and foaming rivulets in search of
their food, which consists of water insects, and, occasionally, of fish spawn. But while
thus living the life of a water-bird, the dipper proves his right to be ranked with the
highest organized birds, the ‘songsters,’ by its cheerful warble, which it keeps up all the
year round, in winter as well as in summer. The dipper nests near the rushing waters
of a mountain stream. The structure is large and domed, with an entrance hole on the
side, and is firmly constructed of leaves and externally clad with green moss, so as to
make it most difficult to discover among the mossy rocks, where it is located often so
near the water’s edge that the spray keeps it constantly wet. On the whole, the dip-
per, both in appearance, movements, nest-building, ete., is a gigantic wren adapted to
a life in and at the water. Only one genus (Cinelus) is known, the species of which
have a very curious geographical distribution, in some respects resembling that of the
super-genus Ceryle among the kingfishers, for the dippers are found in greatest abund-
ance in the Palearctic region, whence we trace them into North America, where one
species is found in the Rocky Mountains down through Mexico and Guatemala, and
one in Costa Rica and Veragua, the genus to reappear again in the high mountains of
South America, three species being found there, among which is the recently-described
C. schulzt. There are three styles of coloration in this genus: some species, of which
the North European dipper, or water-ouzel (Cinclus cinelus— C. melanogaster), is
typical, with dark abdomen and pure white breast; others, like our North American
species (C. mexicanus), are dusky all over; while the South American species, and
one Asiatic species (C. leucogaster), are white beneath, recalling the young plumage
of the other species. This fact is noteworthy, as bearing upon the evolutional history
of the genus, since it indicates that the Neotropical forms are most like the ancestral
stock. Hence we may conclude that the genus Cinclus immigrated into South
America before the all dusky style had developed, or that South America is the cradle
of the genus, since it is very improbable that the present coloration of the South
American species should be due to reversion.

That the dippers should have originated in the Neotropical region seems not so
extraordinary when we consider that this region is the great headquarters of the
wrens, or TRoGLopyTID.®, whence a few forms have scattered themselves through
North America to the Oriental and the Palearetic regions. The absence of both fam-
ilies in Africa and in Australia is highly suggestive.

Prof. 8. F. Baird was the first to diseover and announce the curious fact that some
of our western wrens have faxaspidean tarsi. Of the genus Salpinctes he says:
“Tt is, however, especially peculiar among all its cognate genera, by having the usual
two continuous plates along the posterior half of the inner and outer faces of the tar-
sus divided transversely into seven or more smaller plates, with a naked interval
between them and the anterior scutelle. At the upper end of the outer plate these
divisions or lines of junction are obsolete, becoming more distinct below, and near the

506 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

inferior extremity the plates are reduced to oval seales. The plate along the inner
face is also divided into two or three plates, sometimes more, usually less, distinet than
on the outer.” Dr. E. Coues, in finding, as he thought, a similar arrangement in
Campylorhynchus, went so far as to assert that “these points ...go to show that
their position in that family [Troglodytid] is not assured,” and to base a sub-family
chiefly upon this character. There is no need of such a proceeding, however, for I
have examined the tarsus of quite a number of adult cactus-wrens, and found them to
be absolutely typical laminiplantar. Dr. Coues must have examined an exceptional
specimen or a yowrg bird, for in the latter the division of the hind plates is present
and quite conspicuous. This very fact shows plainly that there is no essential differ-
ence between the taxaspidean and the laminiplantar tarsus, the latter being simply a
development of the former, just in the same way as the ‘booted’ tarsus is a develop-
ment of the regular anteriorly seutellated tarsus, as shown by the division of the ante-
rior plate in the young thrushes. The case, besides, is not unique among the Oscines.
As well might we doubt the acromyodian character of the raven (Fig. 234), and tax-
aspidean tarsi are found in several forms belonging to the Pycnonotine, Oriolid,
Prinonopine, ete., the actual position of which cannot be doubted.

The general habits of the wrens are so well known that we shall only introduce a
brief sketch by Mr. H. D. Minot of the cafion wren (Catherpes conspersus) as
observed by him in Colorado: “ At Manitou, local about cations and rock formations,
dodging, fluttering, and creeping about cliffs and caves. Easily recognized by its
white throat and rich yellowish brown tail, and by its notes, —a peculiar insect-like
chirp, and a delightful song of falling whistles, not loud or intense, but somewhat
ecstatic, as if the bird hurried through till out of breath. After early June this song
is not often to be heard. June 8, I found a nest and five fresh eggs. The nest was
in the roof of a cave, about ten feet from the ground, in a niche or pocket, with an
opening so narrow, vertically, that I could neither look in nor introduce my hand.
Fortunately, however, the rock was so soft that I easily removed the bottom slab on
which the nest rested. This, as one looks down upon it, suggests the eastern wood
pewee’s. It is composed of twigs, stalks, and bits of leaves, surrounded by a few
loose sticks, and thickly felted with down, silk, and a few feathers.”

An interesting troglodytine genus is the Indian Pnapyga, with booted tarsi, like
the dippers, and very short tail, which is invisible, being completely hidden by the
tail-coverts and the feathers of the rump.

The so-called ground-tit, or perhaps better wren-tit (Chame@a fsasciata), a remark-
ably isolated form both as to characters and habitat, being confined to California, has
very little in common with the true tits except the very long, soft, and lax plumage.
A special family, Crane1m.a, has been established for it, but I see no reason for sepa-
rating it so far from the Troglodytide, from which it seems to differ chiefly by the
presence of strong rictal bristles, and, accordingly, I am most inclined to regard the
Chameinze only as a sub-family of the wrens. Their habits seem also to be very
wren-like, but the information is somewhat scanty. Here is what Dr. J. G. Cooper
says about them: ‘This interesting link between the wrens and the tit-mice is
common everywhere west of the Sierra Nevada, on dry plains and hillsides covered
with chapperal and other shrubby undergrowth, but is not found in the forests. It,
is one of those birds that can live where there is no water, except occasional
fogs, for six or eight months together. In these dreary ‘barrens’ its loud trill is
heard more or less throughout the year, but especially on spring mornings, when they

SWALLOWS. 507

answer each other from various parts of the thickets. They have a variety of other
notes resembling those of the wrens, and correspond with them also in most of their
habits, hunting their insect prey in the vicinity of the ground or on low trees, often
holding their tails erect, and usually so shy that they can only be seen by patient
watching, when curiosity often brings them within a few feet of a person; and,
as long as he sits quiet, they will fearlessly hop around him as if fascinated.”

The mocking-birds (Mmmp2) are hardly entitled to family rank independent of
the Troglodytida, from which they chiefly differ in having well-developed bristles at
the mouth, and in being on an average somewhat larger, though the smaller mocking-
birds are not so large as the largest wrens. Like all the birds of the present group
they are eminently American, and seem to have the centre of their distribution in
Central America, the West Indian Islands, and the southwestern United States.
The mocking-bird (Mimus polyglottus), the rival of the nightingale for the ‘cham-
pionship of the world’ as a songster, the cat-bird (Galeoscoptes carolinensis), and
the brown thrasher (Harporhynchus rufus) are representative birds of this family,
and their song and habits too familiar to American readers to require further notice
in this connection.

Whether the place here assigned to the Polioptiline, or gnat-catchers, is correct
may perhaps be questioned, but I think it safe to say that its position with the Mimide
is more satisfactory than either with the Sylviide, Paride, or Mniotiltide. Indeed, I
see little to separate them from the mocking-birds except the slightly more depressed
bill and the size, the gnat-catcher belonging to the smallest of passerine birds. Musci-
capine relationship has been suggested, but the form and position of the nostrils
opposes such a view, as does also the geographical distribution, Polioptila being
exclusively American, and the Muscicapidze exclusively Old World forms. However,
I may quote what Mr. R. B. Sharpe says about the question : —

“T believe that the most natural position for the genus will be in the vicinity of
the muscicapine genus Stenostira, to which, both in form and style of coloration,
Polioptila bears a striking resemblance, as has already been pointed out by Bonaparte,
Sclater, and other ornithologists. Should this classification turn out to be correct, it
will afford another instance of the affinity of the avifauna of North America with
that of South Africa, as already noticed in the occurrence of Petrochelidon spilodera
at the Cape, a close ally of P. pyrrhonota [.P. lhinifrons] of North America.” IT may
here remark, that the swallow genus Petrochelidon is found both in South America,
Australia, India, and South Africa; that the swallows are very uniform both in form
and coloration all over the world; that they are the fastest travelers of all passerine
birds; consequently the similarity between the American and the African species is
not so extemely surprising. On the other hand, the true fly-catchers are very poly-
morphic, and the distribution of the gnat-catchers and the Stenostira so disconnected
that I prefer to regard the former as nearly related to their countrymen, the mocking-
birds, especially as character of structure or coloration seems to make such a view
untenable. The habits do not point either way, so far as I know. The gnat-eatchers,
a little over a dozen species, belonging to one genus only, inhabit all parts of America
except the most southern and most northern portions.

Contrary to the general run of passeroid families, that of the swallows, the Hrrun-
DINID-£, is as well defined and isolated as any of the picarian families, at least exter-
nally. They are possessed of extremely long and pointed wings, with nine primaries ;
the feet are reduced very much in size; the bill is short but extremely broad, and the

508 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

gape split to near the eyes, but without bristles. Altogether they resemble closely
the swifts (Micropodid), though structurally they are very different, and the distin-
guishing marks have already been pointed out (cf. page 437). Jnter se, the different
species of swallows vary but very little, and no intermediate forms are known which
directly connect them with some other family, or indicate their line of descent. But
different as they appear externally from other Passeres, nothing is found internally or
even in their pterylography that will justify their being far removed from the forms
hitherto treated of. Says Professor W. K. Parker: “In this remarkable group of
tender-billed gaping Passeres, there is not, as far as I am aware, a single aberrant

FIG. 249. — Clivicola riparia, bank-swallow ; Progne subis, purple-martin.

character of importance. The skull, the skeleton generally, the digestive and the
vocal organs —all these might belong to species of the genus Sylvia.”

About one hundred species of swallows are recognized, distributed all over the
earth except the very arctic and antarctic regions. Uniform as is their structure, so
are also their habits, they being chiefly migratory, and feeding on flying insects which
they eatch on the wing. Their whole organization aims at great speed, and they spend
the greater part of their life in the air, but rarely perching in order to rest. The
rapidity of their flight is only surpassed by its perseverance, while the shortness of
their feet prevent them from moving on the ground except in the most awkward man-
ner. In regard to their nesting habits, the swallows may be divided in three
groups: (1) Those which build their nests in hollows of any description, not dug out
or prepared by the birds themselves; to this group belong different species of the

DRONGO-SHRIKES. 509

genus Progne, the white-bellied swallow, and some others, among which is the Austra-
lian Petrochelidon nigricans, which lays its eggs in a hollow tree or rock, without any
nesting material; (2) those which dig their nest holes in banks of earth or sand, as,
for instance, our common bank-swallow and the rough-winged swallows; (3) those
which build nests of moist mud and clay; some of the latter rest the more or less
open structure on some fundament, as most species of the genus Chelidon, while others
only build it against a perpendicular wall of a rock or a house, the nest forming a sec-
tion of a globe, e.g., the well-known European martin (/Zirundo urbica), with the
feathered feet, figured on the plate facing page 508; other species add to the globe a
long entrance tube, thereby giving the nest the form of a bottle or a retort, promi-
nent examples being our cliff-swallow (Petrochelidon lunifrons), and the two European
species figured on the plate already quoted, the red-rumped swallow, and the crag-
martin.

Referring to the figures of different species of swallows accompanying this account,
we only remark that the European barn-swallow (Chelidon rustica) closely resembles
our North American species, from which it chiefly differs in having the under side
whitish. In the cut representing our common purple-martin (Progne subis) (lower
figure), and the bank-swallow ( Clivicola riparia), the nest-holes of the breeding colony
are visible in the river bank in the background. Similar in color, though perhaps not
very nearly related to the latter bird, is our American rough-winged swallow (Stelgi-
dopteryx serripennis), remarkable for the curious serration of the first (ninth) primary, °
the edge of the outer web in the male, caused by the shafts of the barbs ending in a
sharp hook. This same peculiarity is also found in an African genus, Psalidoprocne,
but otherwise the two genera are very different.

The series of families now to be treated of is probably a natural one, taken as a
whole, though there may be considerable doubt as to certain forms really belonging
here. Some may belong to the Timaliidie, properly defined, and others may really be
fly-catchers, while one or more genera included in the families already disposed of may
naturally come in here. These forms, however, will cause us little trouble in the
present connection, inasmuch as the difficulty in properly locating them is the direct
result of our ignorance concerning their structure.

Like most of the families to follow, the CamprrHaGip.®, or cuckoo-shrikes, ranging
from India to Australia, have been knocked considerably about in the systems. They
have a rather short and strong bill, somewhat broadish at the base, hooked and notched
at the end. Very characteristic, however, is the structure of the feathers of the lower
back and rump, the shafts of which are stiffened, a feature easily ascertained by run-
ning the thumb against the plumage nail down. Though tropical birds, their colora-
tion is grayish or blackish, only a few forms being gayly decorated, as, for instance,
most species of the genus Pericrocotus, the bright scarlet vermilion, or yellow and
black species of which, in form somewhat resembling wag-tails, are peculiar to the
Oriental region. Of the Indian large ‘ minivet,’ Mr. Jerdan says that, “like the rest
of the tribe, it goes in small parties, hopping and flying briskly about the branches,
picking insects off the leaves and flowers. On one occasion only I saw it descend to
the ground. It has a lively, constantly repeated, rather mellow call.” The Bengal
name, according to Blyth, is ‘ Sath sati kapi, meaning ‘the beloved of seven damsels.’

The fork-tailed Dicrurm, or drongo-shrikes, form another Oriental family, which
also spreads into Africa and Australia. The most noteworthy features are the shrike-
like bills, the glossy black crow-like coloration, and the peculiar furcation of the tail,

510 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

which consists of ten rectrices only. In some forms the exterior pair of tail-feathers
is curiously recurved and twisted. In Dicranostreptus megarhynchus, from New Ire-
land, the outer tail-feathers are extraordinarily produced, being nearly double the
length of the bird’s body, and in the genera Bhringa and Dissemurus, from India
and Malayana, they are ending in a racket or spatule, many of the species having
curious frontal crests. We quote from Jerdon: “They are birds capable of strong,
rapid, and vigorous, but not of sustained, flight; and they feed almost exclusively on
insects, which they capture on the wing, or on the ground, or occasionally on leaves
or flowers. They are a most characteristic feature of Indian ornithology; for, go

where you will in India, you are sure to see one or more of the genus.” In some

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Fic. 250. — Ampelis garrulus, Bohemian wax-wing.

respects their habits resemble those of the tyrant shrikes, and the Europeans in India
also call them ‘king-crows,’ a name analogous to that of our ‘ king-bird, for their
boldness. The following account of the habits of Buchanga atra is again from Jer-
don: “The king-crow obtains his familiar name in this country from its habits of
pursuing crows, and also hawks and kites, which it does habitually; and at the breed-
ing season, especially when the female is incubating, with increased vigilance and
vigor. If a crow or kite approach the tree in which their nest is placed, the bold lit-
tle drongo flies at them with great speed and determination, and drives them off to a
great distance; but although it makes a great show of striking them, I must say that
I have very rarely seen it do so; and certainly I have never seen it fix on the back of
a hawk with claws and beak for some seconds, as Mr. Philipps asserts that he has

SHRIKES. 511

seen. Occasionally others will join the original assailant, and assist in driving off their
common enemy.” Anatomically the drongos are remarkable as being the only Passeres
in which the accessory semitendinosus is absent, their myological formula being AX.

Perhaps not distantly related to the shrikes, the wax-wings, and their few allies,
the Ampetip will have to find a place somewhere in this neighborhood. A familiar
example of this small group is the beautiful cedar-bird (Ampelis cedrorum) from North
America. The other species occurring in our country (4. garrulus) is more northern
in its distribution, and is also found all over the northern parts of the Old World. A
very unique ornament in these birds is the horny flattened lamelle-like ends of red
sealing-wax appended to the shafts of the secondaries, and sometimes to the tail-feath-
ers, as seen in the accompanying cut. The history of the Bohemian wax-wing is
interesting for its gipsy-like wanderings, one winter visiting one country, next season
another, often in enormous flocks, and usually with the intervals of many years, so
that in former times their appearance was regarded as sure forebodings of war and
pestilence, their arrival being dreaded as much as that of a comet. Another interest-
ing feature of its ornithological history is the fact that this familiar bird for a long
time eluded the search of the oologists; for its breeding habits and eggs, and even the
places where it breeds, were unknown thirty years ago, until finally discovered in
Lapland by Mr. Wolley, after a diligent search during four summers.

It would only be repetition of former statements in regard to doubtful families
were we to say anything more about the position in the system of forms like the
wood-swallows, or swallow-shrikes (Arramip.2), a small family of shrike-like birds
from Australia, and adjacent islands, similar in habits, flight, and partly in appearance
to the swallows. They are birds of sombre, dusky, or gray colors. A very peculiar
habit of the Australian common wood-swallow (Artamus sordidus) is recorded by
Mr. Gould’s assistant, Mr. Gilbert, during his residence at Swan River, as follows:
“The greatest peculiarity in the habit of this bird is its manner of suspending itself
in perfect clusters, like a swarm of bees; a few birds suspending themselves on the
under side of a dead branch, while others of the flock attach themselves one to the
other, in such numbers that they haye been observed nearly of the size of a bushel
measure.”

Had it not been for the generally accepted family term for the foregoing group
we should have lumped them with the heterogeneous assemblage called the Lanup,
shrikes or butcher-birds, the typical forms of which are characterized by their stout
and strongly hooked and toothed bill, which in some of the genera strongly resembles
that of the Accipitres, without having the cere at base, of course.

In the types first to meet us, however, the bill is more straight, the coloration 1s
crow-like, and altogether the Gymnorhinine may be as nearly related to the ancestors
of the crows as to those of the shrikes. A structural feature of their own is that the
nostrils are placed very far forward, almost midway between base and tip of bill, are
quite bare of either bristles or feathers, and have entirely ossified margins. The
whitish blue color of the bill in some forms is also quite characteristic. Here belong
the crow-shrikes, genera Strepera, Cracticus, and Gymnorhina, from Australia,
Cracticus, also from the Austro-Malayan sub-region. A good example is given in
the ‘piping crow-shrike’ (G. tibicen), figured on the plate facing page 510. It is
black and white, with a bluish ash-colored bill, and of the size of a small crow.
According to Gould, it is a bold and showy bird, which, when not harassed and
driven away, greatly enlivens and ornaments the lawns and gardens of the Australian

512 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

colonists, and, with the slightest protection from molestation, becomes so tame and
familiar that it approaches close to their dwellings, and perches round them and the
stock-yards in small families of from six to ten in number. “Nor is its morning
carol less amusing and attractive than its pied and strongly contrasted plumage is
pleasing to the eye. To describe the notes of this bird is beyond the power of my
pen, and it is a source of regret to myself that my readers cannot, as I have done,
listen to them in their native wilds.”

Somewhat timaliine in the fluffy plumage of the back, which forms a thick and
soft covering of the rump, the Malaconotrinw, African and Indian forms, generally
like shrikes, but often very gorgeously colored,—as for instance the brilliant cobalt blue
Cyanolanius madagascarinus, from Madagascar, and the African Laniarius, varie-

F1G. 251.— Lanius minor, lesser gray shrike.

gated with orange, green, black, red, ete.,—lead us directly into the typical Laniine.
These, the true shrikes or butcher-birds, like the foregoing families, are strictly Old
World birds, but a few forms closely related to species of the genus Lanius, from the
eastern hemisphere, have also invaded the Nearctic Continent, and become familiar
with us. In coloration they closely agree with the species figured in the accompany-
ing cut, the lesser gray shrike of Europe, which, on account of its shorter and less
graduated tail, is often placed in the genus Hnneoctonus. Like the members of the
latter, the rufous shrikes, it is migratory, therein differing from the other gray species.
A characteristic feature in the history of these birds is their habit of storing insects or
mice for future use by fixing them on the thorns of the bushes and trees which they
frequent. This peculiar habit in the shrikes of thus spitting their food, Mr. Seebohm

GREENLETS. 513

remarks, is probably caused by the birds not having sufficiently powerful feet to grasp
their prey until torn in pieces by the sharply toothed bill. They therefore secure
their food on sharp thorns, and are able then, if it be a bird, to pluck it, or if an
insect or lizard or a mouse, to tear it to pieces. In places frequented by this
bold little bird (Z. collurio) it is no uncommon thing to see in the bushes the rem-
nants of its meal—of many meals; for the bird will regularly retire to one place for
its purpose.

It matters very little, under the present state of affairs, whether we style our
American greenlets Vireonine or VirEontp; for, in spite of their olive color and
small size, they are apparently nearly allied to the shrikes. But they are especially

FIG. 252. — Sitta cesia, nuthatch.

interesting on account of being the only indigenous American forms of the whole
series, at least so far, and the only one of which no member ranges into any part of
the Old World. From a taxonomic point of view they are of considerable importance,
inasmuch as they prove the comparative insignificance of the presence or absence
of a first (tenth) primary as a means of subdividing the Passeroidex into groups of
higher value than the present so-called families, for of two species of greenlets,
so nearly allied that nobody ever dared separate them, even generically, we may
have one with a distinct spurious primary, while it has become quite invisible in
the other.

The greenlets reach their highest development in the genus Cyclorhis, embracing
at least a dozen species from Central and South America, remarkable for their stout
build, and high, strong beaks.

VoL. IV. —33

514 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Prof. W. K. Parker, from an examination of the skull of Cyclorhis, pronounces
it “the large prototype of the little Chinese Suthora,” and as he found that the latter
has “a skull which comes nearer to that of the tits than any I have yet examined,” he
arrived at a conclusion, which he expressed by calling Cyclorhis “this large archaic
tit.” On the other hand, Mr. Sharpe refers Suthora and its allies to the Timaliide.
Still, I think that even on account of the external characters they might be placed as

FiG. 253. —2githalos caudatus, long-tailed tit.

a sub-family under the Part, the tits. One of the most remarkable Passeres seems
to be allied to Suthora, viz., the three-toed Cholornis paradoxa, which the celebra-
ted French traveler, Abbe Armand David, discovered in western China. The
unique feature of this bird is the suppression of the fourth, that is, the inner
anterior toe.

The present family may be divided into two sub-families besides the Suthorine, if
we decide to keep them here, viz., the true tits and the nuthatches (Sittine). The

ORIOLES. 515

latter are specialized forms adapted for climbing in the manner of woodpeckers and
creepers; but the tail is not stiff, while on the other hand the hind toe is extremely
developed. The bill is protracted, is somewhat wedge-shaped, and is applied as a
hammer, somewhat after the fashion of woodpeckers, in opening nests and acorns;
but it must also be remarked that the true tits open seeds, bugs, and other hard
objects by hammering just in the same manner. The nuthatches are mostly referable
to the genus Sittu, as typified by the European species (S. cwsia) figured in our cut.
The group is small and faunally best developed in the Asiatic continent, though sev-
eral very distinct species also occur in North America. These are characterized by
having the cap colored differently from that of the back, though S. villosa from
China comes near to our S. canadensis in that respect, and in the two Mediterranean
species, S. krueperi and S. whiteheadi, the forehead alone is black. A very aber-
rant form usually referred to the present sub-family is the Madagascar red-billed
nuthatch (Zypositta corallirostris), in which the bill is shorter and somewhat fly-
catcher-like.

The true tits are also chiefly Old World birds, though we have numerous repre-
sentatives in this country also; but here they are all dull colored, while some of the
foreign species, for instance, the azure tit, from Siberia (Parws eyanus), pure white
and sky-blue, the blue-tit of Europe (P. ceeruleus), blue, white, and yellow, and the
large Japanese tit (P. varius), with chestnut on sides and hind neck, are among the
most beautiful and delicately tinted birds of the northern hemisphere. The tits
generally breed in holes in trees, a noteworthy exception being the long-tailed tits, of
which our cut shows us the North European form with the white head, d2githalos
caudatus. They are extremely small; in fact, look like a minute ball of feathers, to
which is appended a disproportionately lone tail. The species figured is black and
white, with the shoulders wine-colored, and the flanks tinged with the same color.
Their nest is a very large and elaborate purse-shaped affair, hanging free, or attached
along the back to the main stem of the tree, covered on the outside with fine lichens
and moss, while the inside is lined with an enormous number of feathers — Gould once
counted two thousand in a nest which he tore to pieces — the whole structure securely
matted together with spiders’ webs. In this warm purse is deposited a large number
of eggs, often nine to eleven, but rare instances are known where sixteen or even
twenty eggs have been found in one nest. When incubating, the bird sits with the
tail bent over its back. In their habits, the long-tailed tits, or ‘bottle-tits, as they
are often called on account of the bottle-form of the nest, are very restless and
erratic, always in movement, and, like the other tits, they are gregarious to a great
extent.

The true orioles, OrtoL1p2, must not be confounded with the American birds
which we generally designate by that name. The two groups resemble each other in
coloration inasmuch as the prevailing color is yellow and black massed in great
continuous patches, but structurally they are as different as a crow and a warbler.
The true orioles are exclusively a tropical Old World family, quite nearly related to the
crow-like birds, and cannot be removed from their immediate neighborhood. They are
especially at home in the Oriental and Australian region, but several species also occur
in Africa, and one at least also invades the Palearctic, being a regular summer visitor
to southern and central Europe, though only rarely straggling to the British Islands.
This is the golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus) represented in the accompanying cut.
The adults are rich golden yellow and black, while the young birds are greenish,

516 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

lighter grayish beneath, and streaked with dusky on throat, breast, and flanks. Its
song is very celebrated. To quote Mr. Seebohm: “Its voice is marvellously rich and
flute-like. The call-note during the pairing season sounds like the words ‘ who are
you’ in a full, rapid whistle; and its song is a wheet, li, vee-o, whence its vernacular
name in Holland of ‘Kiel-i-vee-vo.’. Some slight modifications in its song are appar-
ently produced by prefixing or interluding its call-note. It is a pity the song is so
short ; for in quality it is scarcely exceeded by the song of any other bird.” It feeds
principally on insects and fruit, and may in the summer do considerable damage to
the cherries.

We shall regard the family of Parapis.21®, or birds-of-Paradise as composed of
three distinct sub-families, the bower-birds, the long-billed Paradise birds, and the

Fia. 254. — Oriolus oriolus, golden oriole.

true, typical Paradiswine. The first mentioned group is possibly linked to some
Timaliine forms, with which Sharpe puts it, but the fact that a supposed bower-
bird, Sericulus wanthogaster, was shown by Salvadori in 1876 to be the young of
Xanthomelus aureus, one of the long-billed Paradise birds, is quite suggestive.

The bower-birds are peculiar to Australia and New Guinea, one of the oldest and
best known species being the satin bower-bird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) figured
on the plate facing this page. It is a large bird, of the size of a common magpie,
the male purplish black, the female chiefly grayish green, underneath pale yellowish,
barred crosswise with dusky. The bower-birds have received their name from the
peculiar structures which they build apparently only for the purpose of pleasure as
sporting-places where the males meet to pay their court to the females, and which are

BOWER-BIRDS. 517

constructed with such wonderful skill and taste, that we are forced to recognize the
intellect manifested by them as only inferior to that of man in degree, but not in
kind. Dr. Sclater, in speaking of the birds of this species in the Zoological Gardens
in London, says as follows: “Long before the construction of their nest, and inde-
pendently of it, these birds form with twigs, skilfully put together and firmly planted
in a platform of various materials, an arbor-like gallery of uncertain length in which
they amuse themselves with the most active glee. They pursue each other through
it; they make attitudes to each other, the males setting their feathers in the most
grotesque manner, and making as many bows as a cavalier in a minuet. The archi-
tecture of the bower is excessively tasteful, and the ornamentation of the platform
on which it stands is an object of constant solicitude to the birds. Scareely a day
passes without some fresh arrangement of the shells, feathers, bones, and other decora-
tive materials, which they bring from long distances in the bush for this purpose.
With the same object they immediately appropriate every suitable fragment placed
within their reach when in confinement.”

Still larger and more elaborate are the avenue-like “ play-houses” of the Chlamy-
dodera. Accompanying a bower of C. nuchalis now in the Museum of Comparative
Zoology, in Cambridge, we learn, “were more than half a peck of the decorations
with which the builders had adorned their place of assembly. These consisted prin-
cipally of a large white univalve; the shell of a large land-snail, of which there were
in all about four hundred; shining stones, principally flint-stones and agates ; bright-
colored seed vessels and pods; bleached bones of small quadrupeds, and other objects
of interest.”

But all these structures are completely overshadowed by the achievements of
Amblyornis inornata, a plain rufous-colored bird, not larger than our American robin,
and only recently discovered in New Guinea by the Dutch traveler and naturalist,
Count Rosenberg. From an abstract of Dr. O. Beccari’s account of the gardener-bird
in the Arfak Mountains, on the western peninsula of New Guinea, in 1875, we make
the following selection: “He had just shot a small marsupial as it was running up
the trunk of a large tree, when, turning round in close proximity to the path, he
found himself in front of a piece of workmanship more lovely than the ingenuity of
any animal had ever before been known to construct. It was a cabin in miniature in
the midst of a miniature meadow studded with flowers. Contenting himself for the
moment with a brief examination of this marvel, he enjoined his hunters not to dis-
turb it.

“ After several days spent at Hatam in the preservation of specimens, at last, one
morning, his crayon and box of colors in hand, he set out towards the habitation of
the Amblyornis, and immediately applied himself to the task of making a sketch. At
the time of his visit the proprietors were not at home, nor was he afterward able to
ascertain with any certainty whether any cabin was frequented by a single pair, or by
more; whether by more males than females, or the reverse; whether the males alone
construct the huts, or whether the females aid in the work, or how far they may be
the work of several individuals. That these cabins are used season after season is
made probable from the fact that they are constantly being renewed and embellished.

“This bird selects for its hut and garden a spot on a level with the plain, having
in its centre a small shrub, with a trunk about the height and size of a small walking-
stick. Around the base of this central support, it constructs, of different mosses, a
sort of cone about a span in diameter. This cone of moss seems to strengthen the

518 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

the central pilaster, upon the top of which the whole edifice is sustained. The height
of the cabin is at least half a metre. All around, from the top of the central pilaster,
and diverging outward therefrom, arranged methodically in an inclined position, are
the long stems, their upper ends supported on the apex of the pilaster, and their lower
resting on the ground, and thus all around, excepting immediately in front. In this
way is made the cabin, conical in form, and quite regular in the shape the whole pre-
sents when the work is completed. Many other stems are then added and interwoven
in various ways, so as to make a roof at once strong and impervious to the weather,
Between the central pilaster and the insertion in the ground, there is left a cireular
gallery in the shape of a horse-shoe. The whole structure has a total diameter of
about a metre.

“The long straw-like stems of which it makes use as rafters are the slender and
upright branches of a species of orchid (Dendrobium), an epiphytal plant that grows
in large tufts on the mossy branches of tall trees. They are as slender as fine straws,
and are about halfa metre in length. These stems retain their small and closely-
packed leaves, which are still living, and continue to maintain their life a long while,
as is the case with the greater part of the epiphytal orchids of the tropics, and there
is little doubt that these sagacious birds select this plant on account of its vitality,
purposely to prevent the decay of their dwelling. °

“But the wsthetic tastes of our ‘gardener’ are not restricted to the construction of
a eabin. Their fondness for flowers and for gardens is still more remarkable.
Directly in front of the entrance to their cabin is a level place occupying a superficies
about as large as that of the structure itself. It is a miniature meadow of soft moss,
transported thither, kept smooth and clean, and free from grass, weeds, stones, and
other objects not in harmony with its design. Upon this graceful green carpet are
scattered flowers and fruit of different colors, in such a manner that they really pre-
sent the appearance of an elegant little garden. The greater number of these orna-
ments appear to be accumulated near the entrance to the cabin. The variety of the
objects thus collected is very great, and they are always of brilliant colors. Not only
does the Amblyornis select its ornaments from among flowers and fruit, but showy
fungi and elegantly-colored insects are also distributed about the garden and within
the galleries of the cabin. When these objects have been exposed so long as to lose
their freshness, they are taken from the abode, thrown away, and replaced by others.”

As the first naturalist who saw the wonderful birds-of-Paradise, long-billed and
short-billed ones, in their native forests, Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace’s name is so
closely connected with the history of these marvels of living beauty, and our knowl-
edge of their habits and peculiarities is to such a degree due to his observations, that
we shall have to follow his account of them as near as possible, using his own words,
unable as we are to improve upon them. We must limit the remarks, however, to
such species only of which we are able to present figures, viz., the two cuts inserted
in the text, and the plate facing this page, though these only represent five species out
of a total number of nearly three dozen.

When the earliest European voyagers reached the Moluccas in search of cloves
and nutmegs, which were then rare and precious spices, they were presented with the
dried skins of birds so strange and beautiful as to excite the admiration even of those
wealth-secking rovers. The Malay traders gave them the name of ‘manuk dewata,’
or God’s birds; and the Portuguese, finding that the skins had no feet or wings, and
not being able to learn anything authentic about them, called them ‘ passaros de sol,’

BIRDS-OF-PARADISE. 519

or birds of the sun; while the learned Dutchmen, who wrote in Latin, called them
‘avis paradiseus,’ or Paradise birds. John van Linschoten gives these names in 1598,
and tells us that no one has seen these birds alive, for they live in the air, always
turning towards the sun, and never lighting on the earth till they die; for they have
neither feet nor wings, as, he adds, may be seen by the birds carried to India, and
sometimes to Holland, but being very costly they were then rarely seen in Europe.
More than a hundred years later Mr. William Funnel, who accompanied Dampier,
and wrote an account of the voyage, saw specimens at Amboina, and was told that
they came to Banda to eat nutmegs, which intoxicated them and made them fall down
senseless, when they were killed by ants. Down to 1758, when Linneus named the

L1G, 255. — Paradisea sanguinea, red bird-of-Paradise.

largest species Paradiscea apoda (i. e., the footless Paradise bird), no perfeet specimen
had been seen in Europe, and absolutely nothing was known about them. As before
mentioned, Wallace was the first naturalist to observe them in their native haunts
during his eight years’ travels in the Malay Archipelago from 1854 to 1862, but since
his success several recent travelers have followed his steps and added considerably to
the knowledge of these birds, among which may be mentioned Rosenberg, Bernstein,
d’Albertis, Beceari, ete.

The great bird-of-Paradise (P. apoda)—see plate —is the largest species known,
being generally seventeen or eighteen inches from the beak to the tip of the tail.
The chief color is a rich coffee-brown, which deepens on the breast to a blackish
violet or purple brown. The whole top of the head and neck is of an exceedingly

.

520 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

delicate straw-yellow, the feathers being short and close set, so as to resemble plush or
velvet ; the lower part of the throat up to the eye is clothed with scaly feathers of an
emerald green color, and with a rich metallic gloss, and velvety plumes of a still
deeper green extend in a band across the forehead and chin as far as the eye, which
is bright yellow. The beak is pale lead-blue, and the feet, which are rather large and
very strong and well formed, are of a pale ashy pink. The two middle feathers of
the tail have no webs, except a very small one at the base and at the extreme tip,
forming wire-like cirri, which spread out in an elegant double curve, and vary from
twenty-four to thirty-four inches long. From each side of the body, beneath the
wings, springs a dense tuft of long and delicate plumes, sometimes two feet in length,
of the most intense golden orange color, and very glossy, but changing towards the
tips into a pale brown. This tuft of plumage can be elevated and spread out at
pleasure, so as almost to conceal the body of the bird. These splendid ornaments are
entirely confined to the male sex, while the female is really a very plain and ordinary-
looking bird of a uniform coffee-brown color which never changes; neither does she
possess the long tail wires, nor a single yellow or green feather about the head. The
young males of the first year exactly resemble the females.

This species is confined to the Aru Islands, a small group of islands close to New
Guinea, where their loud and shrill cries, “wawk, wawk, wawk — wok, wok, wok,”
form the most prominent and characteristic animal sound. In May, when they are in
full plumage, the males assemble early in the morning to exhibit themselves, raising
up their wings, stretching out their necks, and elevating their exquisite plumes, which
are kept in a continual vibration. Between whiles they fly across from branch to
branch in great excitement, so that the whole tree is filled with waving plumes, in
every variety of attitude and motion. This habit enables the natives to obtain speci-
mens with comparative ease. As soon as they find that the birds have fixed upon a
tree on which to assemble, they build a little shelter of palm leaves in a conyenient
place among the branches, and the hunter ensconces himself in it before daylight,
armed with his bow and a number of arrows terminating in a round knob, A boy
waits at the foot of the tree, and when the birds come at sunrise, and a sufficient
number have assembled, and have begun to dance, the hunter shoots with his blunt
arrow so strongly as to stun the bird, which drops down, and is secured and killed by
the boy without its plumage being injured by a drop of blood. The rest take no
notice, and fall one after another till some of them take the alarm.

The red bird-of-Paradise (P. sanguinea), represented in the accompanying cut,
resembles the foregoing species very much, but the side plumes are shorter, and instead
of being yellow are rich crimson, and the yellow of the head pervades the back and
forms a yellow band across the breast between the green and the brown; the two
middle tail-feathers have the narrow webs curved upon themselves like a split quill.
This species, which is confined to the Waigiou Islands at the western extremity of
New Guinea, is not shot with arrows, but snared in a very ingenious manner.

The king bird-of-Paradise (Cicinnurus regius) is the lower figure on the plate.
It is quite small, about six inches and a half long. Tt is of a rich glossy crimson,
with a broad band of metallic green across the breast, dividing the red of the throat
from the silky white of the rest of the under surface. From each side springs a fan-
shaped tuft of ashy feathers tipped with green, which can be raised and spread out,
as in the drawing, and the middle tail-feathers are modified into very slender wire-
like shafts, nearly as long as the bird itself, each of which bears at the extremity, on

BIRDS-OF-PARADISE. 521

the inner side only, a web of an emerald green color, which is coiled up into a perfect
spiral disc. It is a native of New Guinea and the outlying islets surrounding it,
frequenting the smaller trees in the thickest parts of the forest, feeding on various
fruits, often of a very large size for so small a bird. It is very active on its wing and
feet, and makes a whirring sound while flying, something like the South American
manakins.

FIG. 256. — Seleucides alba, twelve-wired Paradise bird.

Wallace did not meet with the six-shafted Paradise bird (Parotia sefilata), which
is confined to the main island of New Guinea. It is the middle figure of the plate,
from which is at once apparent the feature which has given it its name. The plumage
appears at first sight black, but it glows in certain lights with bronze and deep purple.
The throat and breast are scaled with broad, flat feathers of an intense golden hue,
changing to green and blue tints in certain lights. On the back of the head is a broad

522 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

recurved band of feathers, whose brilliancy is indescribable, resembling the sheen of
emerald and topaz, rather than any organic substance. Over the forehead is a large
patch of pure white feathers, which shine like satin; and from the sides of the head
spring the six wonderful feathers. The Italian traveler, Count d’Albertis, was the
first naturalist who ever shot a bird of this kind. Let me quote his description of how
the bird acted the first time it was seen by an appreciating eye: “After standing
still for some moments in the middle of the little glade, the beautiful bird peered
about to see if all was safe, and then he began to move the long feathers of his head,
and to raise and lower a small tuft of white feathers above his beak, which shone in
the rays of the sun like burnished silver; he also raised and lowered the crest of stiff
feathers, almost like seales, and glittering like bits of bright metal, with which his
neck was adorned. He spread and contracted the long feathers on his sides, in a way
that made him appear now larger and again smaller than his real size, and jumping
first on one side and then on the other, he placed himself proudly in an attitude of
combat, as though he imagined himself fighting with an invisible foe. All this time
he was uttering a curious note, as though calling on some one to admire his beauty, or
perhaps challenging an enemy. The deep silence of the forest was stirred by the
echoes of his voice.”

It is hard to say which one of the Paradise birds is the most beautiful or the most
curious, and want of space will only allow us to mention the names of Wallace’s
standard-wing (Semioptera wallaci’), with two curious long feathers standing erect
on each wing; Schlegel’s Paradise bird (Schlegelia wilsoni), with a cobalt-blue
bald head, ornamented with a cross of velvety black feathers; the superb bird-of-Par-
adise (Lophorina superba), with the bifurcated breast-shield, and the still more ex-
traordinary and enormous fureated feather-shield that rises from the lined neck; the
magnificent bird-of-Paradise (Diphyllodes magnifica), with a similar but rounded and
straw-yellow nape, crest, and a pair of elegantly curved and long filamentous tail-
feathers; and finally the metallic black manucodes, remarkable for the subcutaneous
conyolutions of the trachea, which may even occur in the females. ;

In the Epimachinze, long-billed, or sickle-billed birds-of-Paradise, the peculiarities
of which are indicated by the name, we find birds not less remarkable in form, and not
less glorious and beautiful in colors. We shall only mention the long-tailed Zpima-
chus speciosus, with the enormous long tail, and a lateral fan similar to that of the
king bird-of-Paradise, and the Australian species of Pti/orhis, with a plumage unsur-
passed in its velvety softness and the richness of the deep purple of its color. The
most beautiful of this group, however, is, probably, the black, yellow, and white, twelve-
wired bird-of-Paradise (Seleucides alba), figured in the accompanying eut, and long
known to the naturalists in museums, though first met with in the free state by Wal-
lace’s assistant, Allen, and d’Albertis, whom we quote: The Se/eucides may pride
itself on account of its plumage, and the singular shape of twelve of its feathers, six
of which, on each side of the breast, diminish into twelve very thin black threads,
terminating in a white point. The softness of the feathers of the back makes it very
delicate to the touch, like black velvet; and in a strong light the color of the shield-
like feathers on the breast changes from green to bronze and a splendid purple. The
bird is so gorgeous that it is perhaps not surpassed by any other of the feathered
tribes. The long feathers which cover the lower part of its body are of a very deli-
cate yellow color, which, shaded off into white, are of a deeper color on the sides,
Seleucides is chietly frugivorous, although, as an exception, it may sometimes add a
little meat to its customary diet.”

CROWS. 523

Mr. Forbes has recently described some peculiarities of its structure, especially
that of the trachea, from a specimen which died in the Zoological Gardens at London,
but want of space prevents us from further remarks.

At first thought, the step from the glory we have described above to the family
that has taken its name from the crow —the Corvin. —seems rather sudden. But
a little closer inspection of the structure of these birds, and a little knowledge of the

FG. 257. — Nucifraga caryocatactes, spotted nut-cracker ; Perisoreus infaustus, Siberian jay.

more brilliantly colored of the so-called crows will soon convince us that the birds-of-
Paradise and the sagacious but seavenger-duty-performing ravens and crows are not
so very distantly related.

This family is cosmopolitan, though not occurring in New Zealand, and rather
sparingly represented in the Australian region. If the western and the eastern
hemispheres of the globe be compared, it will be found that nearly two thirds of the
species belong to the latter. It is an important fact that no member of the restricted

524 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

group which contains the typical crows and their nearest allies is found in South
America. In fact the Corvidee oceurring south of Panama may all be regarded as
rather recent modifications of immigrants from the Nearctic region. This family is
not nearly related to any forms that are peculiar to South America,

It has been customary to divide the birds composing this family into jays and
crows, assigning to each of these divisions the rank of a sub-family, while others
have given similar dignity to the nut-crackers and the choughs. The differences seem
hardly important enough to justify such proceedings, although popularly this multi-
tude of species — nearly one hundred and eighty — may be grouped as above, with the
addition of a section for the magpies.

Fia. 258. -— Garrulus glandarius, European common jay.

Some of the more generalized forms resemble tits in their aspect, structure, and
habits to such an extent as to make it quite probable that they are intimately related.
We refer particularly to a group of jays, of which our Canada jay or ‘ whiskey-jack’”
(Perisoreus canadensis) is typical. A nearly allied form, but more suffused with
rufous, and with the tail distinctly of the latter color, is represented in the accompany-
ing cut, lower figure, viz., the Siberian jay (P. infaustus), which is a common bird
in all the deep pine forests of the northern Palearctic region. Like its American
cousins, this tit-jay is extremely tame, noisy, and even obtrusive in its habits, at least
during three fourths of the year, while towards the breeding season they suddenly
become silent, preparing the nest in the most secluded parts of their native forests,
and exercising all their cunning to keep it concealed.

JAYS. 525

The true and typical jays belong to the genus G'arrudus, which is confined to the
Palearctic region, being one of its most characteristic inhabitants. Most of the
species are moulded upon the European species (Garrulus glandarius), figured in our
cut, and several of them are but slight modifications of this well-known and beautiful
bird. Its general color is a delicate vinaceous gray; on the head it has an erectile
black-spotted crest, and the rump is pure white ; but its chief ornaments are the wing-

FIG, 259. — Cyanocitta diademata, Mexican long-crested jay.

coverts, which are black, exquisitely barred with white and azure-blue. The draw-
ing shows this professional nest-robber in the act of killing an unfortunate nestling.
Like the other members of the family the jays are omnivorous, but they are especially
fond of eggs and young birds, and may be regarded as eminently injurious, though in
spring they consume a number of insects to atone for their sins of stealing fruit and
berries in the autumn.

Our familiar blue-jays (Cyanocitta) are quite nearly related to the above, and

526 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

are so well known that we only refer to the figure, which represents the Mexican
representative of our long-crested jay. The blue-colored jays are especially character-
istic of the New World, and lead us directly to the glorious Central and South
American Xanthoura jays, varied with deep black, cobalt, azure, white, yellow, and
green.

The magpies may be said to differ from the jays in having much larger and more
graduated tails, the central pair of rectrices being usually lengthened considerably
beyond the rest. We may regard the so-called blue magpies (Cyanopolius) as leading
from the jays, though the chief interest of these birds lays in their geographical distri-
bution. Like most of the true magpies their home is the Old World. But while the
other forms have their centre of distribution in the Himalayas and the countries to
the southeast, the two species of Cyanopolius are restricted, one, C. cooki, to the
peninsula of Spain, while the other, C. eyanus, is only found in Eastern Asia, including
Japan; thus these two species, which are so closely alike that it takes an expert
ornithologist to distinguish between them, are separated by about five thousand miles
of continuous land, a most unique case of discontinuous geographical distribution.
We said that most of the magpies are Old World birds, for the reason only that
representatives of the genus Pica enter the North American fauna. The reservation
was not made to include the long-crested and long-tailed Central American genus
Calocitta, which may be regarded as an extreme development of the blue-jays. We
even doubt the propriety of removing the Oriental genus Urocissa, created for the
reception of the bird figured in the accompanying cut, the red-billed blue magpie
(U. erythrorhynchus) and allies from the jays. The species in question is ashy cobalt
blue above, whitish beneath; head, neck, and breast, black with white markings
above; tail and wings blue, marked with white; bill coral-red, and feet orange. In
spite of its long tail, it is said to be quite terrestrial in its habits, and to feed almost
entirely on the ground. It is credited with a curious antipathy towards the leopard;
several of these birds, when discovering it, will follow it for more than a mile, perching
on the trees and bushes above it, and keeping up a continual screeching.

But we have to return to the cut which we referred to when speaking of the
Siberian jay, as the upper figure represents the spotted nut-cracker (Vucifraga
caryocatactes), a near relative of our North American Picicorvus columbianus. The
former has a most interesting history on account of the mystery which, until a short
time ago, surrounded its breeding habits, for although resident in many places in the
very heart of Europe, it is scarcely more than twenty years ago that the first
authenticated eggs of this bird were procured and described, and the search for the
nut-cracker’s eggs is nearly a parallel to that of Wolley’s search for the wax-wing’s
eggs. The reason why this bird for so long a time eluded the efforts of the oologists
was the fact that it breeds very early, often before the snow melts away, and the
total change of the bird during the breeding season, it being then silent and shy,
though at other times noisy and daring. Its color is dark brown spotted with white.

This bird opens the series of the crows, which are characterized by comparatively
short tail, long wings, a straight, conical, and strong bill, and generalty uniform black
plumage. This group contains the largest forms of the family; indeed, the largest
passerine bird known is the rapacious and cunning raven (Corvus cora«), in which the
family reaches its highest development. The two Palearctic species, C. cornix and
C. corone, the hooded-crow and the carrion-crow of Europe, have been a source of
perplexity to Old World ornithologists, presenting a question similar to and nearly

CROWS. 527

as intricate as that of the red-shafted and
yellow-shafted flickers of our continent.
The carrion-crow is entirely black; the
hooded-erow is gray, with the head, throat,
wing, and tail black. The former inhabits
in Europe the southern parts, while the
hooded-crow is northern and eastern; but
the areas of both overlap, and in those dis-
tricts innumerable intermediate specimens
occur. Hybridization easily accounts for
these, inasmuch as the interbreeding of typi-
cal birds of both species is an established
fact. But that was not the greatest difti-
culty which presented itself in the apparent-
ly western carrion-crow coming to light again
in eastern Siberia, to the east of the hooded
species. Seebohm has attempted to show
that the true explanation is that the black NF ane
one is originally an eastern species, which Fig, 260.— Crocissa erythrorhynchus, red-billed jay.
has invaded southern Europe, establishing

a western colony there after having crossed the area inhabited by its gray cousin. To
me the problem seems even easier; for I think it possible to separate the east Asiatic
birds, at least subspecifically, from the European form.

528 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

Our last figure of birds of this family needs only a few touches of color to give a
striking picture of two remarkable species. Both are uniform black, the upper figure,
the chough (/regilus graculus), with feet and bill vermilion red, while the Alpine
species (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) has the bill yellow. Both forms are inhabitants
of mountainous districts in the southern parts of the Palwarctie region, the first-men-
tioned even so far north as the British Islands. They differ considerably from the

FiG. 261. — Fregilus graculus, chough ; Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, Alpine chough.

rest of the crows in several respects, their bills being much weaker, and the nostrils
are placed much higher and nearer the culmen. Jnter se they differ again, as seen in
the figure, by the shape of the bill, and the chough by having booted tarsi. They
stand quite isolated among the crows of the present day, and several facts point
towards their being only the last survivals of a once numerous group, which before
long will succumb and become finally extinct. Its fate in the British Islands is very
suggestive, as will be seen by the following extracts from Mr. Seebohm’s recent

STARLINGS. 529

volume: “The chough is another of those birds that are becoming rarer in our islands
from no apparent cause. ‘The encroachment of man, as Mr. Gray justly remarks, can
scarcely be a reason for its disappearance ; for the bird’s haunts are practically inae-
cessible, and are usually places far removed from his industries. Formerly the chough
bred in many inland localities in England, but now it is only known to frequent afew
favored spots on the coast. Years ago the bird bred on almost all the suitable cliffs
of the south coast; but at the present day most of its breeding stations are deserted.

FiG. 262, — Heteralocha acutirostris, huia-bird.

In Scotland it appears to have been much commoner quite recently than at the present
time, and to have now completely deserted its inland haunts, being only found on the
ocean cliffs. In Ireland its numbers have also decreased.”

Leaving the question open for the present whether the Old World starlings
(Sturntp#) are best placed here, or whether they had better be removed nearer to
the American Icteride, from which they chiefly differ in having ten primaries, we at
once proceed to review the most interesting forms of this family, which is entirely
confined to the eastern hemisphere, but which in its distribution offers the peculiarity

VOL, Iv. —34

530 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

of being absolutely wanting on the Australian continent, though occurring in New
Zealand and in several of the Polynesian Islands. A light is thrown upon this sin-
gular circumstance by the fact that the New Zealand forms are quite peculiar, and
that Madagascar also possesses peculiar sturnine genera,

One of these remarkable New Zealand starlings is the huia-bird (J//eteralocha
acutirostris), as depicted in the accompanying fine cut. It will be well at the outset
to assure the reader that the two birds there figured really belong to the same

5 Qo 3 I
CPi bi LeO~>s —/ = a A eS
lh LE rae a ae NG
SSO ——__ Ce Kak Sao i\l

7
er

<=>

FIG, 263, — Sturnus vulgaris, European starling ; S. unicolor, Sardinian starling.

species, being in fact, the one with the straight bill the male, the other the female.
Characteristic of both is the wattle at the mouth angle. They occupy now a very
limited space in a few densely-wooded mountain ranges, and like the many other
abnormal types —that is, types diverging greatly from the more modern avian forms
—they seem to be doomed to an early extinction. The huia was often in the systems
associated with the foregoing family, but an anatomical examination which Garrod
was enabled to make on a specimen which died in the London Zoological Gardens

STARLINGS. 581

showed that it is a true starling. It is easily tamed, and the following observation of
Dr. Buller was made on a pair which he kept in captivity for more than a year:—
“ What interested me most of all was the manner in which the birds assisted each
other in their search for food, because it appeared to explain the use, in the economy
of nature, of the differently formed bills in the two sexes. To divert the birds, I
introduced a log of decayed wood infested with the huhu grub [the larva of a large
nocturnal beetle, Prionoplus reticularis]. They at once attacked it, carefully pro-
bing the softer parts with their bills, and then vigorously assailing them, scooping out
the decayed wood till the larva or pupa was visible, when it was carefully drawn
from its cell, treated in the way described above, and then swallowed. The very
different development of the mandibles in the two sexes enabled them to perform

F1G. 264. — Pastor roseus, rose-colored pastor.

separate offices. The male always attacked the more decayed portions of the wood,
chiselling out his prey after the manner of some wood-peckers, while the female
probed with her long pliant bill the other cells, where the hardness of the surround-
ing parts resisted the chisel of her mate. Sometimes I observed the male remove
the decayed portions without being able to reach the grub, when the female would at
once come to his aid, and accomplish with her long slender bill what he had failed to
do. I noticed, however, that the female always appropriated to her own use the
morsels thus obtained.”

The straight, conical bill is also characteristic of the common European starling
(Sturnus vulgaris), which is figured here with its near ally, the Sardinian starling
(S. unicolor), both shining greenish black, the former spotted with whitish. In
Europe it is of common, though somewhat local occurrence, but in most places where it

532 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

breeds it is a welcome harbinger of spring, doubly appreciated on account of its intel-
ligence, which induces it to take up its abode in quarters provided for it by its human
friends, whom it repays for their care by destroying millions of obnoxious insects. They
readily breed in boxes nailed to the sides of dwelling-houses, and the more boxes there
are the better, for the starling is an extremely gregarious bird. In this, as in many
other respects, the starling strikingly resembles our blackbird, and it is only a matter of
surprise to me that the early settlers of this country did not transfer the familiar
name to the American bird.

The lovely pink color which pervades those parts of the pastor’s plumage which are
not glossy greenish black (see the cut) makes it one of the finest looking birds of the
Old World. Pastor roseus is an inhabitant of the plains and steppes of western
Asia, breeding irregularly as far west as Switzerland. During its autumnal wander-
ings small flocks are often detached from the large bodies and straggle about, often
wide from its original home. It winters regularly in India. To the Rey. Mr. Tristram
the reader is indebted for the following graphic sketch of his experience with the rosy
pastor during his travels in the East : —

“From Kelat Seijar we pursued for two days a northeasterly course over the Syr-
ian plain, and through the whole journey flock after flock of Pastors passed us, all
pursuing a due west route. At one place we came suddenly, after mounting a gen-
tle ascent, on the crater of an extinct voleano, full of water, and surrounded with
basalt boulders. As we came up, one of these flights, which had alighted to drink,
rose in alarm and darkened the air overhead. About a dozen fell to a random shot,
and every one I picked up was in full breeding-plumage. At another place a soli-
tary tree over a well was so covered with them that the color of the tree changed
from black to green as we approached. Once we came ona patch of some acres
which had recently been visited by locusts. The old locusts were gone, but the young,
not more than a quarter of an inch long, made the ground literally alive. They rose
at every step of our horses like sand-lice on the seashore from a seaweed left by the
tide. Just after we had passed through this patch of devastating flight, I turned my
head and saw a great globe in the air. It suddenly turned, expanded, and like a vast
fan descended to the ground. We waited a few minutes, and saw acres covered with
a moving black mass, dappled with pink. Ina short time the mass became restless,
and we rode back. The birds rose quietly, but not till we were close on them, and
only those within dangerous distance. But not a young locust could we see. The
Pastor had well earned its name of the ‘ Locust-bird, and one batch of foes to man
and his labors had been promptly and forever exterminated.”

Here is a bird well worth introducing into this country. Why did our busybodies
not think of this beautiful benefactor, instead of creating the English sparrow nui-
sance ?

Africa has a group of starlings peculiar to the dark continent, belonging to the
genera Lamprocolius, Lamprotornis, Juida, ete., which with a common name we
designate as glossy-mynas. They are generally of blackish color, with shining metallic
reflections, green and blue, and several species have long and ample tails. Many of
them are, therefore, superficially quite similar to our American crow-blackbirds ( Quis-
calus). There is no need, however, of referring to drawings, or museum specimens,
for they are seen on every other lady’s hat.

Another African genus, quite aberrant on account of its strong and hard beak,
may perhaps be entitled to sub-family rank. It is composed of only two species of the

ea

STARLINGS. 538

genus Buphaga, or ox-peckers, so called on account of their habits of frequenting
the backs of the cattle in order to extract the grubs which infest the ruminants. The
Swedish naturalist, Anderson, who traveled in South Africa, has the following note on
the habits of the southern ‘beef-eaters’ (L. africanus), as they are sometimes called:
“The arrival of these birds is announced by a sharp cry; and the next moment they
may be seen in a little flock descending fearlessly on and amongst the cattle, which
are at first much alarmed, and run about in wild confusion, just as they do when
troubled with gadflies; but these apprehensions are soon dispelled, and exchanged for
sensations of evident pleasure, as the ox-peckers run over their backs, sides, and bel-
lies, like woodpeckers upon trees, except when an ox, by an occasional jerk or sudden

FG. 265. — Buphagus erythrorhynchus, ox-pecker.

twist, appears to indicate that the claws of the bird have caused something like pain
by touching some spot where the skin of the animal happens to be tender.” The ac-
companying cut shows the northern species, B. erythrorhynchus, in full activity.
Finally, we will have to say a few words about the hill-myna (Gracula javana),
figured on the plate facing page 516. The hill-mynas are strictly confined to the Ori-
ental region, and are common in India. They are well-known birds, gregarious as
most starlings, and easily tamed ; like the European starling they can be taught to
repeat words very distinctly. Their color is black, with purplish reflections, and their
head is adorned with some curious flattened yellow wattles. The Indian species was

584 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

called G. religiosa by Linnxus, but, as Jerdon informs us, probably by a mistake, as
he never heard of its being held at all sacred.

Notwithstanding the enormous difference between the most extreme members of
the series now to follow, as, for instance, between the thin-billed flower-pecker and
the heayy-headed grosbeak, the link of intermediate forms which combine them seems
so unbroken that we can entertain no doubt but what they are only different develop-
ments of the same common stock. We commence with several tropical forms which,
though highly specialized in one direction to be presently spoken of, are probably, on
the whole, more ancestral than those which we have placed at the end.

The forms here referred to are the so-called ‘Tenuirostres,’ corresponding to the
group ‘Cinnyrimorphe’ of others, chiefly embracing the sun-birds and the honey-
eaters. They are characterized by a thin, pointed, more or less lengthened and
curved bill, and the two families mentioned by having the tongue long, protractile,
ending in a suctorial tube anteriorly bifid.

This apparatus, which resembles considerably the tubular tongue of the humming-
birds, deserves a little attention, and it is worth while to note that not only is the
tongue constructed on a similar principle in these families, so distantly related that
they are justly placed in different orders, but that also externally, in shape, size, and
coloration, the tubilingual tenuirostres, which are exclusively confined to the Old
World, bear a great resemblance to the hummers. We have here an illustration of
the fact “that similar functional requirements frequently lead to the development of
similar structures in animals which are otherwise very distinct.”

The hyoid apparatus is provided with very long cornua, which are bent over the
skull as in woodpeckers and humming-birds, though not reaching further forward
than the frontal bones. The horny sheath of the tongue itself forms first a single
tube, which then splits up into two tubes, herein differing from that of the hum-
mers, which is ‘double-barreled’ to the very base; but in the true honey-suckers
(Meliphagid) the splitting up of the end of the tubes is continued dichotomously, so
as to form a sort of ‘brush.’ Several sets of muscles effect the protrusion of the tongue
and the sucking action, which by Dr. Gadow is ascertained to be accomplished auto-
matically in about the following manner: The whole tongue and larynx is first pressed
upwards against the palatal roof of the mouth by the contraction of one set of mus-
cles, thus filling the mouth wholly. By the action of other muscles the tongue is pro-
truded. If, now, the former muscles relax, and their opponents depress the larynx
and the posterior part of the tongue, a vacuum will be produced between tongue and
palate, which will then be filled with the flower nectar, into which the tip of the

"tongue may have been inserted. The object of the terminal vibrisse in the sun-birds,
and tubular brush in the honey-suckers, seems to be to prevent air from rushing into
the tube if there should not be enough nectar to fill it, inasmuch as the fluid will then
enter the anterior part of the tube by capillary action, and then be sucked up.

Professor Parker has pointed out a considerable difference in the palatal structure
of the two tubilingual families referred to. He has found that the sun-birds agree
with the rest of the Passeres in having the preepalatine bar running on the inner side
of the palatal process of the premaxillary, while in the honey-suckers it passes on the
outer side,

In regard to the geographical distribution, we may remark that the honey-eaters
chiefly inhabit Oceania and Australia. They are, as Gould says, the most peculiar and
striking feature in the ornithology of the latter continent, being “to the fauna what

HONE Y-BIRDS. 535

the Hucalypti, Banksic, and Melaleuce are to the flora. The economy of these
birds is so strictly adapted to those trees that the one appears essential to the other;
for what can be more plain than that the brush-like tongue is especially formed for
gathering the honey from the flower-caps of the Eucalypti, or that their diminutive
stomachs are especially formed for this kind of food, and the peculiar insects which
constitute a portion of it?” A peculiarity of many species belonging to this family,
the Mretipnacip#, is the presence of naked wattles at the mouth angles.

Messrs. Layard, father and son, have recently contributed some interesting notes
to the biographies of several of these birds, as observed by them in the island of New
Caledonia. Of Gliciphila undulata they say: “This fine ‘honey-sucker’ is not at all
uncommon in the forest, frequenting in considerable numbers certain trees when in
flower; when the blossoms disappear the birds disappear also, and you may seek in
vain for a single specimen in the place that a short time previously rang with their
clear whistle and flute-like notes. They hang or climb in every position to feed,
grasping the branches, or flowers themselves, with their strong curved claws. They
are very pugnacious, fighting amongst themselves, and with any other bird that
attempts to share with them their sweet repast of flower-nectar and small insects,”
In regard to another honey-eater of the same island, Leptomyza aubryana, they make
the very interesting remark that they found one specimen which “had the throat
covered with yellow pollen; this we have also found on Gliciphile and Myzomela,
and we doubt not some of the large, lofty, flowering trees are fertilized by such agency,
as insects are very scarce here.”

One of the largest species of the family is the peculiar and well-known parson-bird
(Prosthemadera nove-seelandie), from New Zealand, metallic black, with a curious
tuft of very long and filamentous white feathers, curled in upon each other, on each
side of the throat. Says Dr. Buller: “The early colonists named it the ‘ parson-bird’
in allusion to the peculiar tufts of white feathers that adorn its throat, and their
fancied resemblance to the clerical bands. To those who are familiar with the bird in
its native woods, this name is certainly appropriate, for when indulging in its strain
of wild notes, it displays these ‘bands,’ and gesticulates in a manner forcibly suggestive
of the declamatory style of preaching, or, as Dr. Thompson graphically expresses it,
“sitting on the branch of a tree, as a pro tempore pulpit, he shakes his head, bending
to one side and then to another, as if he remarked to this one and to that one; and
once and again, with pent-up vehemence contracting his muscles and drawing himself
together, his voice waxes loud in a manner to waken sleepers to their senses. Owing
to its excellent powers of mimicry, and the facility of rearing it in confinement, it is a
favorite cage-bird, both with the natives and the colonists. It will learn to articulate
sentences of several words with clearness, and to imitate the barking of a dog to
perfection.”

Here also belong some curious forms confined to the Sandwich Islands, among
which is the black, yellow-tufted honey-sucker (Moho nobilis). Mr. Titian R. Peale
has given the following account of the former use of the small yellow tufts of
these birds : —

“The yellow tufts of costal feathers in this beautiful bird furnished the material
for the splendid and costly robes, capes, and ‘leis’ of the Hawaiians in former
days. The bunches of feathers, called Alu, are still [1840] prepared and received
in payment of a poll-tax to the king; they are afterwards made up principally in
‘leis’ or head-bands worn by the ladies, and are beautiful but costly ornaments; but

536 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

few can afford to wear them. The mantles made of these feathers were until lately
considered the principal treasures of the crown; now they are not to be seen; the
labor of collecting the feathers and attaching them to a network base, a labor of
years, being too great. European clothing has entirely superseded the former robes
of state.

“The ‘Oo’ is found in most of the woody districts of the island of Hawaii; it
frequents the thick foliage of the loftiest trees; in voice and manners it has some
resemblance to the oriole of North America (Zceterus baltimore). The natives cap-

Fic. 266. — Nectarinia metallica, sun-bird.

ture it by means of bird-lime, and, after plucking the yellow feathers from beneath
the wings, restore it to liberty until again wanted to assist in paying the royal
tax.” <A fine robe made of these feathers is in the National Museum in Washington.

The sun-birds, Necrartup.2, on the other hand, are more African and Indian,
though ranging eastward to Northern Australia, They are generally small birds of
very uniform shape, and, once seen, they are not easily mistaken for any other bird,
except for a humming-bird, with which the popular mind usually confounds them.

SUN-BIRDS. 537

And, indeed, if it be admissible to speak of ‘representative’ families of the two
hemispheres, the sun-birds ‘represent,’ in the Old World, the hummers of the New.
Uniform as is their structure, their coloration is as varied and brilliant as that of any
other family, but their habits are said to be so alike that the biography of one species
will answer for that of the rest. To give an idea of their habits we select a few ab-
stracts of Jerdon’s account of the common Indian purple sun-bird ( Cinnyris asiatica) :—

' “This bird, like the others of its tribe, has a feeble but sweet chirping note. It
feeds partly on the nectar of flowers, but a good deal on insects, small cicadellz, flies,
spiders, etc. It occasionally hovers in the air before a flower whilst extracting the
honey, but generally hops about and clings to the smaller twigs and flowering branches.
I have occasionally seen it snap at an insect in the air. Whilst feeding it frequently

FG. 267.— Certhia familiaris, common creeper.

opens and closes its wings. A pair built their nest just outside my house door at Jalna.
It was commenced on a thick spider’s web, by attaching to it various fragments of pa-
per, cloth, straw, grass, and other substances, till it had secured a firm hold of the twig
to which the spider’s web adhered, and the nest suspended on this was then completed
by adding other fragments of the same materials. The entrance was at one side, near
the top, and had a slightly projecting roof or awning over it. The female laid two
eggs of a greenish-gray tinge, with dusky spots.”

The species figured is the metallic sun-bird (Nectarinia metallica) from North-
eastern Africa. It is colored as follows: head, neck and mantle deep metallic green,
rest of back, the rump, and a crescent bordering the green of the throat, brilliant deep
purplish blue; rest of underparts gamboge yellow, but under tail-coverts nearly white,
The female is plain, pale earthy brown above, pale yellowish beneath,

588 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

We may here be allowed to quote Mr. Sharpe’s words with regard to a group of
nine-primaried birds which we are now going to mention briefly, viz: the Dicamw.s,
which, according to him and most other authors, cannot be separated far from the
Nectariniidee. He introduces them in the following words: “The members of this
family —if we are allowed thus to designate a group of birds which cannot be defined in
exact terms—are principally Indian and Australian, a few representatives being found
on the west coast of Africa. Although resembling the sun-birds in habits, very few

FIG. 268. — Tichodroma muraria, Alpine wall-creeper,.

have the slender, creeper-like bill of the latter family; and they differ also in their
nesting habits, their nest being a beautiful purse-like structure of felted materials.”
Several of the forms herein included are peculiar to the Sandwich Islands, and
with the rest of that most interesting fauna of surviving forms will soon become
extinct. On those isolated islands they have evolved several curiously specialized
generic forms, with bills ranging from that of the curiously curved beak of Hemi-
gnathus, which has the upper mandible nearly twice as long as the lower one, to the

CREEPERS. 539

grosbeak-like Zowxioideus bailleui, the generic name of which indicates its external
resemblance to the stout fringilline birds.

For want of a better place we may here include the true creepers, CerTHIID®, a
small group of climbing birds, the exact relationship of which is yet quite doubtful,
notwithstanding the fact that the typical species, the common creeper (Certhia fa-
miliaris), here figured, and its closely allied American representative (C. americana)
are among the most familiar birds of Europe and of this country, so that they are
within the grasp of every ornithologist. The only thing which we know at present
with any degree of certainty is that the old notion of the creepers being nearly allied
to the nuthatches is wrong, and that in some way or another they are related to the
‘Cinnyrimorphze’ of modern authors. The birds composing this ‘family’ are usually
modestly colored, and red is only found in the second species figured, the Alpine

|
+ Yi ji:.)

FG. 269. — Certhiola flaveola, banana-quit.

wall-ereepers (Zichodroma muraria), the remiges of which are adorned with the
most glorious crimson in addition to the white round spots on the first primaries.
The bird itself is delicately slate-blue above, blackish beneath, but when flying appears
nearly entirely black. I think it is the most interesting and beautiful bird I have
ever met in the wild state, and I remember very well the enraptured sensation when
in the Tyrolean Alps I one day made the acquaintance of this charming bird. I
faced a high rocky wall, rising perpendicularly to the height of nearly a hundred feet.
Presently a black object fell down in zigzag lines until, nearly reaching the foot of
the cliff, the bird checked its descent by spreading its lovely wings. It now com-
menced to ascend the rock in jerks, as the common creeper runs up the bole of a
tree, but all the time opening and closing its wings to display the glorious coloration,
as well shown in our figure. It looked like a large tropical butterfly, and when to-day
recalling the beautiful sight I do not wonder that I entirely forgot to shoot the bird.

540 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

The ornithologist usually is cruel and ungrateful to the creatures which give him such
pleasure, but once in a while his sentiment gets the better of him.

We have above said that the sun-birds ‘represent’ the humming-birds in the Old
World, but we might just as well reverse the comparison a little, and say that the
honey-creepers (CarEBID£) in the New World ‘represent’ the sun-birds. The
thin, curved bill, and the richness and character of the coloration of the typical
species are equally suggestive, and the tongue is also bifid and penicillated at the end,
though not tubular. The small ultramarine blue creepers with yellow wing-marks
(Ceereba cyanea) and allies from Central and South America, and the banana-quits
(Certhiola) from the West Indies and northern parts of South America, are familiar
examples. One species of the latter, viz., C. bahamensis, has a claim of belonging to
the fauna of the United States, in as much as it occurs in Florida. It has a pure
white throat, and is thereby easily distinguished, even in the cut, from the species
here figured, C. flaveola, from Jamaica, which, as the drawing shows, has the throat
gray. Mr. Gosse speaks of this interesting species as follows: “Scarcely larger than
the average size of the humming-birds, this little creeper is often seen in company
with them, probing the same flowers and for the same purpose, but in a very different
manner. Instead of hovering in front of each blossom, a task to which its short
wings would be utterly incompetent, the quit alights on the tree, and proceeds in the
most business-like manner to peep into the flowers, hopping actively from twig to
twig, and throwing the body into all positions, often clinging by the feet, with the
back downwards, the better to reach the interior of a blossom with his curved beak
and pencilled tongue. The minute insects which are always found in the interior of
flowers are the objects of his search and the reward of his perseverance.”

It is very doubtful, however, if the foregoing family Carebide really deserves
that name, for it seems impossible to draw a hard and fast line between it and that of
our American warblers, and probably it should therefore be merged into the Myto-
TILTID# in any future attempt at a natural system. The group of birds which we
have reached now, is so familiar both in appearance and in habits to North American
readers, that I can dispense with any further description beyond noting that they
are strictly confined to the western hemisphere. But as a ‘natural history of birds’
would be highly defective without at least part of a life-history of one of the war-
blers, and as it would be beyond the power of the present writer to improve on the
delightful sketches which Mr. W. Brewster has given to the ornithological public, a
few abstracts of the biography of the prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea)
by the latter are here introduced: “In general activity and restlessness few birds
equal the species under consideration. Not a nook or corner of his domain but is
repeatedly visited during the day. Now he sings a few times from the top of some
tall willow that leans out over the stream, sitting motionless among the yellowish
foliage, fully aware, perhaps, of the protection afforded by its harmonizing tints.
The next moment he descends to the cool shades beneath, where dark, coffee-colored
water, the overflow of the pond or river, stretches back among the trees. Here he
loves to hop about on floating drift-wood, wet by the lapping of pulsating wavelets,
now following up some long, inclining, half-submerged log, peeping into every crevice
and occasionally dragging forth from its concealment a spider or small beetle, turn-
ing alternately his bright yellow breast and olive back towards the light; now jetting
his beautiful tail or quivering his wings tremulously, he darts off into some thicket in
response to a call from his mate ; or, flying to a neighboring tree-trank, clings for a

TANAGERS. 541

moment against the mossy bole to pipe his little strain or look up the exact wherea-
bouts of some suspected insect prize.

“This warbler usually seeks its food low down among thickets, moss-grown logs,
or floating débris, and always about water. Sometimes it ascends tree-trunks for a
little way, like the black-and-white creeper, winding about with the same peculiar
motion. When seen among the upper branches, where it often goes to plume its
feathers and sing in the warm sunshine, it almost invariably sits nearly motionless.
Its flight is much like that of the water-thrush (either species), and is remarkably
swift, firm, and decided. When crossing a broad stream it is slightly undulating,
though always direct. Its food consists of insects, generally of such spiders and
beetles as are found about water. Audubon positively asserts that he has discovered
minute molluscous animals and small land-snails in their stomachs.”

Again, the Mniotiltidze seem to grade so insensibly into the Tanacrip# that it
will be difficult to uphold the family distinction, unless, perhaps, the two groups be
defined and limited, and the line between them drawn in a manner quite different
from the present practice of ornithologists. But even if a better limitation could be
found, their intimate relationship is nevertheless a certainty. The tanagers are the
first of the true so-called Conirostres, which are characterized by a more massive
development of the bones of the face and an early ossification of its component parts
during the embryonic stage. The tanagers have not reached any high degree in that
line of specialization, though, as a general rule, their bills are pretty strong and
conical.

The tanagers form as characteristic a feature of the Neotropical region as do the
ant-birds and the humming-birds, though, like the latter, a few species go far north in
order to breed, so that this tropical family also contributes some of the most inter-
esting members of our North American fauna. But the very fact that the North
American tanagers are only five species, belonging to one genus (Piranga), while the
total number of tanagers known is not far from three hundred and fifty, shows very
plainly that this family is not truly indigenous in the Nearctic. The tanagers are not
numerous in the West Indies, but some of the genera are peculiar, — for instance, the
beautiful Spindalis, of which a new species has recently been described by Mr. Ridg-
way from the island of Cozumel on the coast of Yucatan. The chief headquarters of
the tanagers is the forest region of South America east of the Andes, and here they
are found in all their rich splendor of color, hardly surpassed even by the humming-
birds or parrots. But while thus highly attractive on account of their coloration,
they offer none of these extraordinary ornaments consisting of marvellously formed
tufts, elongation of tail or wing feathers, oddly curved beaks, ete. Nor is there any-
thing very characteristic, novel, or wonderful in their habits, so far as we know them.
Their skill as nest-builders is not extraordinary, nor are any of them particularly
prominent as songsters. Their chief attraction is their gorgeous colors, which are not
distributed after any special style, all possible combinations being found within the
limits of this family. There is, of course, considerable diversity in the habits of the
different forms, but we must refrain from going into detail beyond quoting the follow-
ing note by Mr. H. W. Bates in regard to two common species, which we insert because
it shows us tanagers under an aspect quite different from what we are accustomed to
here in the north: “ Numbers of tanagers frequented the fruit and other trees in our
gardens [near Para]. The two principal kinds which attracted our attention were the
Rhamphocelus jacapa and the Tanagra episcopus. The females of both are dull in

542 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

color, but the male of Jacapa has a beautiful velvety purple and black plumage, the
beak being partly white; while the same sex in Episcopus is of a pale blue color, with
white spots on the wings. In their habits they both resemble the common house
sparrow of Europe, which does not exist in South America, its place being in some
measure filled by these familiar tanagers. They are just as lively, restless, bold, and
wary ; their notes are very similar, chirping and inharmonious, and they seem to be
almost as fond of the neighborhood of man. They do not, however, build their nests
on houses.”

When interpolating the weaver-birds and the American orioles, or hang-nests,
here, between the tanagers and the Fringillidz, as this family is generally accepted,
we do not wish to be understood as considering the finches to be “two families dis-
tant” from the tanagers. The relationship between all these four families is so inti-
mate, and they interdigitate in so many places, that it is impossible to give an entirely
satisfactory arrangement at present. It seems as if the Gordian knot can only be
solved by cutting the families asunder, and then re-arranging them, or by entirely
discarding the present family distinction, and regarding them all as members of one
family.

The weaver-birds, or PLoceip™, are quite as characteristic of the Paleotropical
countries as are the tanagers of the Neotropical. ‘They are chiefly African, however,
for it is estimated that not less than four fifths of all the known species — somewhat
over two hundred and fifty —-inhabit the dark continent, the rest being scattered
over the Oriental and Australian regions; none are found in the Palearctic, in New
Zealand, or in America. The weavers are sparrow-like or finch-like birds, usually
with conical, thick, and heavy bills, but with ten visible primaries. This is their
chief, not to say their only, distinction from the sparrows. There are three well-
marked types within the family, the true, weaver-birds, the vida-finches, often called
widow-finches, and the small so-called waxbills.

The first mentioned of these, as the name indicates, are well known for their
extraordinary nest-building. They are generally strongly-built birds of a sparrow’s
size. The females and the males in autumnal plumage are mostly plain brownish
birds with dusky streaks and spots, but towards the breeding season the males assume
anew, often highly and brightly colored dress. Two typical species are figured in
the accompanying cut, but too little is shown of the nest to give us an idea of some
of these remarkable structures. I would like, however, to call the attention of the
reader to Fig. 124, on page 264 of this volume. On the tree in the background are
visible two curious roof-shaped structures, round which a number of birds are seen
flying. These represent the wonderful straw roofs which the sociable weavers (Phile-
teerus socius) of South Africa, build. A colony of birds unite in the construction of
this roof, which is often so heavy that the strong branches of Acacia giraffa give
way under the weight. From the under side of the roof then each pair suspends
its own individual nest, which is woven of dry grass. The nests, often twenty to
forty under the same roof, with the openings downwards, are placed close together
and firmly connected. This structure protects the nests most effectively against
injury, for not only does the rain run off the sloping roof, but any enemy who wants
to get at the eggs or young ones is apt to slide down its slippery sides. Other species
build beautiful pendent retort-shaped nests which they suspend from the utmost
twigs of some tree overhanging a river, or from the fronds of some lofty palm, with
the view of securing the offspring against danger from climbing mammals or snakes,

WAX-BILLS. 543

and some are even known to actually strip the thin twigs of their leaves in order to
make the access to the nest still more difficult. The weavers are easily kept in cap-
tivity, and even in a cage they busy themselves with weaving grass, threads — in fact,
anything they can get hold of — into the wire netting of the cage, while in the aviary
they keep up their regular nest-weaving.

The vidas ( Vidua) are like the true weavers, but the males are adorned with enor-
mously lengthened tail-feathers in the pairing season. They are exclusively African.

Fia. 270. — Textor dinemellii and alecto, African weaver-birds.

The waxbills, on the other hand, are also distributed over the Oriental region, and
Australia possesses many very beautiful species of these exquisite little grosbeaks,
which have derived their popular name from the fact that the bill of many species is
red, as if made of sealing wax. Mostly delicately colored and very hardy, these birds
make very attractive cage birds, and some of them, for instance one of the smallest
species, the vermilion red, white-dropped Zagonosticte, are pleasant songsters, and most
of them become very tame in confinement, so as to even readily breed in a small cage.

544 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

In their nest-building, the American orioles, or hang-nests, the lererua: of the sys-
tems, resemble the weaver-birds, but, like the next family, they have only nine prima-
ries, and, in addition, their bill is more pointed and elongated. In many respects
they closely resemble the ten-primaried Old World starlings, and are evidently not
very distantly related. The name oriole, however, must not mislead anybody to the
belief that they are in any way connected with the orioles of the eastern hemisphere.

The name was transferred to the hang-nest simply on account of the black and yellow

FIG. 271. — Ostinops citrius, Brazilian crested cagique.

coloration of some of the best known species. The family is strictly American, rang-
ing “from Patagonia and the Falkland Islands to the Aretie Circle, while, as usual
with exclusively American families, the larger proportion of the genera and species
are found in the tropical parts of South America.” They are better represented,
however, in our North American fauna than either the tanagers or the humming-birds,
for to them belong not far from thirty separable forms, among which the different boat-
tails, blackbirds, and grackles, orioles, meadow-larks, the bobolink, and the cowbirds.

FINCHES. 545

In tropical South America the hang-nests reach their highest development, and
here we encounter the large species of Cassicus, Ostinops, etc., all expert nest-build-
ers, as shown in the accompanying cut. Mr. Bates, in the narrative of his travels on
the river Amazon, has the following note on one of these: “ Another interesting and
common bird was the japim, a species of Cassicus (C. icteronotus). It is social in
its habits, and builds its nest, like the English rook, on trees in the neighborhood of
habitations. But the nests are quite differently constructed, being shaped like purses,
two feet in length, and suspended from the slender branches all round the tree, some
of them very near the ground. The entrance is on the side, near the bottom of the

Pia. 272. — Emberiza hortulana, ortolan ; Granativora melanocephala, black-headed bunting.

nest. The bird is a great favorite with the Brazilians of Para. It is a noisy, stirring,
babbling creature, passing constantly to and fro, chattering to its comrades, and is
very ready at imitating other birds, especially the domestic poultry of the vicinity.”
Here also belongs the troupial (Zcterus icterus), celebrated for its exquisite song,
which is considered even considerably superior to the mellow whistle of our familiar
Baltimore oriole (Z. galbula).

It is very singular to find that the cowbirds (Molothrus) have developed the same
curious parasitic habits as the Old World cuckoos, depositing, as they do, their eggs
in other birds’ nests, to have them incubated and the young ones reared by the indus-
try and devotion of deceived foster-parents.

As the family Frineiiii is now limited, it is one of the richest in species, com-

VOL. IV. — 39

546 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS.

prising more than five hundred, scattered all over the globe, with the sole exception of
the Australian region, a peculiar distribution, which, according to Wallace, is “ hardly
to be found in any other family of birds.” It is a rather polymorphie group, with an
enormous variation in the shape of the conical beak, from the weak and sinuated bills
of the snow-flake (Plectrophenax) and its allies, to the enormously powerful grain-
crushing mandibles of the grosbeaks, and the odd instrument of the cross-bills (Zowia)

FIG. 273. — Petronia petronia, rock-sparrow (upper right-hand figure); Passer hispaniolensis, Spanish sparrow
(upper left) ; P. montanus, tree-sparrow (middle); P. domesticus, English sparrow (lower).

for opening and extracting the seeds of pines and firs from the cones. Also in colora-
tion there is a great diversity, though most of the forms are modestly or even plainly
dressed in brown and gray, varied with yellow, and spotted and streaked with dusky ;
though brilliantly colored species are not missing, as, for instance, our cardinal gros-
beaks (Cardinalis), the nonpareil and some of its allies (Passerina), the Himalayan
scarlet (a@matospiza sipahi), the different Old World bulfinches, ete.

Sundevall has attempted to divide this vast multitude in two ‘phalanges,’ those

GROSBEAKS. 547

with a wide and broadly arched palate (Amplipalatales), and those with the narrower
and scarcely arched palate (Arctipalatales). In the latter are comprised the forms
which we regard as the most specialized forms, chiefly American. In this division
we find all our North American sparrows, Ammodromus, Zonotrichia, Spizella,
Melospiza, Peucwa, Junco, etc., etc., also the Pityline, including the cardinal
(Cardinalis cardinalis) and the rose-breasted grosbeak (labia ludoviciana) figured
in the cut on the plate facing page 544. Closely allied to the foregoing American
forms, which make up the bulk of the phalanx, are the Old World Emberizine or
buntings, of which two representatives are illustrated in our next cut, viz., the ortolan
(Emberiza hortulana), the bird to whom this name by right belongs, a common Euro-
pean species, which during the autumnal migrations is caught in great numbers for
the table, the other being the black-headed bunting (G@ranativora melanocephala), a
large and handsome species, intensely yellow beneath, and confined to the Mediterra-
nean subregion from Italy eastward, migrating to India in winter.

The Amplipalatales are mostly Old World birds and contain the typical finches.
In North America, however, we have a number of species belonging to many different
genera, for instance, Carporacus, Acanthis, Leucosticte, etc., but no true finches
occur in South America with the exception of several goldfinches (Spinws), a genus
strictly arectogean, but with a distribution somewhat analogous to that of the
American kingfishers. Two types of this ‘phalanx’ are illustrated in this volume,
both very familiar indeed to our readers, but in a somewhat disagreeable way, for the
lower figure of the accompanying cut represents, needless to say, a bird whose phe-
nomenal increase, after having been idiotically introduced into this country, has
given rise to considerable talk, but, alas! as yet only little action; while the wild
stock of our domesticated canary, yellow and olive, is figured in the plate facing
page 544.

As remarked at the beginning of the Passeroidex, we regard the true grosbeaks
as the highest specialized finches, represented in Europe by the haw-finch (Cocco-
thraustes coccothraustes), and in this continent by the evening grosbeak (ZZesperiphona
vespertina). Their bills are enormously thick, heavy, and so high that their upper
contours almost form one continuous curve with that of the head.

Lronnarp STEJNEGER.

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an

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Abrophila, 201
Aburria, 233
Acanthis, 547
Acanthisitta, 465
Accentor, 492
Accipiter, 304
Accipitres, 260
Accipitrinz, 304
Acestrura, 449
Acrocephalus, 502
Acromyodi, 481
Acromyodous, 459
Acropternis, 476
Acryllium, 214
Actodromas, 108
Adjutant, 164
/Echmorphorus, 67
Egithalos, 515.
Egithognathous, 10
Ena, 250
“Epiornis, 47
Epiornithes, 47
“Bsalon, 313
AEpypodius, 231
Agami, 123
Agapornis, 362
Agelastes, 215
Agelastin, 215
Agleactis, 44
Agnopterus, 154
Agrobates, 502
Aithurus, 451
Ajaja, 161
Alauda, 486
Alaudida, 485
Fee ey 85
Alea, 69, 7

‘Aleeiinide, 395, 401, 403

Alcedinoidea, 395
Alcedo, 401, 403
Alcide, 69
Alcoides, 68
Alcyone, 404
Alecteroy odes, 198
Alectori Yes, 131 121
Alectroenas, 254
Alectrurus, 470
Alle, 69
Alopochen, 141
Altrices, 3

Aluco, 324, 346
Aluconine, 324, 3446
Amazilia, 443
Amazons, 367
Amblyornis, 517
Ammodromus, 447
Ammomanes, 486
Ammoperdix, 200
Ampelidz, 511
Ampelis, 511
Amplipalatates, 547
Amytornis, 499
Anwretes, 470
Anarhynchus, 101
Anas, 148

HIN DD) Br

Anastomus, 167
Antide, 141
Anatine, 145, 147
Anatoidex, 136
Andigena, 417
Androglossa, 367
Anhima, 1534
Anhimide, 154
Anhimoidew, 132
Anhinga, 195
Anhingid, 193
Ani, 383
Anisodactylous, 370
Anomalogonate, 370
Anomalopteryx, dt
Anous, 83
Anseranas, 138
Anseranatide, 138
Anseres, 152
Anseriformes, 65
Anthus, 487
Antiolopha, 472
Antiopelmous, 369
Antropoides, 125
Ant-birds, 476
Ant-shrikes, 477
Ant-thrushes, 466-477
Ant-wrens, 477
Anumbius, 480
Apaloderma, 435
Apatornis, 24
Aphanapteryx, 129
Aphriza, 99
Aptenodytes, 59
Apteria, 3
Apterous penguin, 49
Apteryges, 48
Apteryx, 49
Aptornis, 151
Aquila, 281
Aquilinz, 278
Aracari, 416
Aramid, 127
Aramus, 121, 127
Arara, 355
Archzopteryx, 21
Archibuteo, 290
Fekete DAT
Ardeidw, 173
Ardeoidew, 162
Ardeomega, 177
Ardetta, 174
Arenaria, 98
Argus, 227
Argytria, 443
Ariel, 418
Artamide, 511

| Artamus, 511

Asio, 343
Astur, 304
Asturina, 290
Asturinula, 308
Atelornis, 390
Athene, 327
Atrichornis, 462

549

Atrichornithide, 462
Attagis, 93

Atthis, 449
Augastes, 444

Auks, 69, 72

Aves, 1

Avestruz, 38
Avicida, 309
Avocettinus, 445
Avocettula, 444

Babblers, 490
Baleniceps, 171
Balenicipitide, 171
Balearica, 125
Bambusicola, 203
Banana quit, 540
Baptornis, 30
Barbets, 418
Barking-bird, 477
Basilinna, 443
Batrachostomus, 387
Baza, 309
Bee-eaters, 395
Bee-martin, 469, 471
Beef-eater, 533
Bejatlor grande, 414
Bell-birds, 475
Bellona, 444
Bernicles, 142
Bhringa, 510

Birds, 1

Birds-of-Paradise, 470, 516, 518

Birds of prey, 260
Bitter-bump, 175
Bittern, 174, 175
Bittern, sun, 116
Bizura, 152
Blackbirds, 496
Black cap, 503
Black-cock, 210
Black crow, 532
Bluebirds, 494

** fairy, 490
Bluejay , 525
Boat-bill, 178
Boatswain, 76, 181
Bob White, 206
hs -bumper, 175

olborhynchus, 366

Poe 211
Boobies, 188
Booted tarsus, 9
Botaurus, 175
Bourcieria, 452
Bower-birds, 516
Brachypteracias, 390
Brachypteracing, 390
Brachypteres, 56
Brachyrhamphus, 72
Brant, 142
Branta, 142
Broad-mouths, 462
Brotogerys, 366
Brown thrasher, 507

550

Brush-birds, 462
Brush-turkey, 232
Bubo, 337
Bubulcus, 178
Bucconide, 412
Bulbuls, 490
Buceros, 406
Bucerotida, 395, 404
Buchanga, 510
Bucoryus, 408
Bucoryine, 408
Bulbuls, 490
Bulweria, 90
Buntings, 546
Buphaga, 533
Busarellus, 290
Bush-chat, 498
Bustards, 115
Butcher-birds, 511
Buteo, 292
Buteogallus, 290
Buteola, 290
Buzzard, anthracite, 290
i bee, 290
ss broadwinged, 293
” carrion, 300
ay common, 203
- ferrugineous, 291
a Gruber's, 290
re honey, 299
‘5 rough-legged, 291
a Swainson’s, 293
iP turkey, 267
white-tailed, 292
Buzzards, 290

Cacatua, 353
Caccabis, 202
Caccothraustes, 547
Caica, 367

Cairina, 146
Callipepla, 206
Callipsittacus, 355
Callocitta, 526
Calloperdix, 203
Callothorax, 449
Calosnas, 243
Calenatide, 243
Calopezus, 54
Calophasis, 220
Calypte, 449
Calyptomena, 463
Calyptorhynehus, 354
Campanero, 475
Campephagide, 509
Campephilus, 431
Camptolaimus, 151
Campylopterus, 456
Campylorhynchus, 505
Canace, 210
Canada jay, 524
Cape Barren goose, 138
Cape pigeon, 90
Capercaili, 210
Caprimulgida, 387
Caprimulginae , 387
Caracara, 301
Cardinalis, 546
Cariama, 121
Cariamoider, 119
Carine, $26
Carphibis, 160
Carpodacus, 547
Carpodectes, 474
Carpophaga, 258
Carpophagide, 254
Carrancha, 301
Carrion buzzards, 300
Carrion-crow, 266
Casmarhinchos, 475

INDEX.

Cassicus, 545
Cassowaries, 39, 41
Casuaridw, 41
Casuarius, 42
Casuaroidex, 39
Catarractes, 63
Cat-bird, 507
Catharma, 449
Cathartes, 266
Cathgrtide, 263, 266
Catharus, 497
Catherpes, 505
Catreus, : 220
Cecomorphie, 64
Cedar-bird, 511
Celeomon ee 423
Celeus, 427
Centrocercus, 209
Sorin 381
Ceophloeus, 431

Ceph ralolepis, 444
Cephalopterus, 474
Cepphus, 72
Cere, 260
Cereopsida, 137
Cereopsis, 137
Ceriornis, 223, 224
Cerorhina, 73
Certhia, 539
Certhiidw, 539
Certhilauda, 486
Certhiola, 540
Ceryle, 404
Cettia, 501
Ceyx, 404
Chanomorphe, 1 1382
Cheetocercus, 449
Cheetopus, 204
Chetura, 459
Cheeturinw, 437
Chaha, 154
Chaleopelia, 246
Chalcophaps, 245
Chalybura, 454
Chama, 504, 5
Chamuida, 506
Chamzpetes, 233
Chameepelia, 247
Channel-bill, 378
Chapparal-cock, 382
Charadride, 98
Charadriinz, 99
Charadriomorphe, 95
Charadrius, 96
Chat, bush, 498

» Stone, 498

» tyrant, 468

» Whin, 498
Chauna, 154
Cheer, 221
Chelidon, 509
Chenalopex, 141
Chenopis, 148
Chimachima, 302
Chimango, 502
Chimney swallow, 439
Chionide, 92
Chionis, 93
Chionoider, 92
Chiroxiphia, 472
Chizerhis, 372
Chlamydochen, 142
Chlamydodora, 517
Chlephaga, 142
Chloropsis, 490
Chlorostilbon, 442
Cholornis, 514
Chough, 528
Chry solampis, 444
Chrysotis, 36

Chunga, 121
Churea, 381
Churunche, 471
Ciconia, 168
Ciconiidae, 162
Ciconiiformes, 65
Cincinnurus, 520
Cinelidaz, 505
Cinclus, 505
= innyrimorphe, 534
Cinny ris, 537
Ci ireaé tus, 285
Circinw, 294
Circus, 294
Cisticola, 499
Civetta, 327
Cladorhynehus, 107
Clamator, 203
Clamatores, 459
Clangula, 148
Clivicola, 509
Clytolwma, 454
Cnemiornis, 136
Cnemiornithide, 136
Coceystes, 377
Coceyzura, 249
Cochlearius, 178
Cockatoos, 352
Cock-of-the-plains, 209
Cock-of-the-rock, 473
Careba, 540
Coerebidae, 40
Colaptes, 427
Coleoramphi, 92
Colioidae, 393
Colius, 393
Collocalia, 437
Columba, 252
Columb, 237, 242
Columbula, 247
Coly, 394
Colymbide, 66
Coly mboider, 66
Colymbus, 67
Condor, 269
Conirostres, 484, 541
Conopophaga, 476
Gonapoprage 476
Conurid¢
Conurus, 565
Coots, 131
Coppersmith, 420
Coquettes, 449
Coracias, 390
Coraciida, 489
Coracioide, 384
Coracopsis, 363

Coryus, 48!
Coryllis, 359
Coryphilus, 359
Corythwola, 372
Corythopsis, 476
Coscoroba, 147
Cosmetornis, 389
Cotinga, 474
Cotingide, 473
Coturnix, 198
Coucal, 381
Courlans, 127
Courser, 101
Coverts, 4
Cow-bird, 545
Cracidm, 282
Cracinw, 233

Pe depshashey, 511
Cranes, 121, UE: 125
Crax, 233, 2¢
Creepers, 539.

Crested grebe, 67
Criniger, 490
Crocodile bird, 100
Crocopus, 255
Cross-bills, 546
Pepeeneion, 226
Crotophaga, 374, 383
Crow, carrion, 266, 526

+) “sh, 193

» hooded, 526

» king, 510

» White, 278
Crow-blackbird, 532
Crows, 523
Cryptornis, 404
pea Nag 51
Cuckoo, channel-bill, 378

55 drongo, 380

: European, 376

aH golden, 378

aa great spotted, 377

3 ‘ound, 381

A 10rn-bill, 378

Ay lark-heeled, 381

= Malaccan, 374

7 yellow-billed, 379
Cuckoos, 373
Cuculide, 373
Cuculine, 374
Cuculoidex, 371
Cuculus, 374
Cultirostres, 484
Cupidonia, 209
Curassows, 233
Curlew, red-billed, 106

of stone, 112
Curlews, 105
Cursores, 56, 113
Cursorius, 101
Curvirostres, 484
Cyanecula, 497
Cyanocitta, 525
Cyanolaninus, 512
Cyanopolius, 526
Cyanophaia, 442
Cyanorhamphus, 356
Cyanotis, 470
Cyclopsittacus, 358
Cyclorhinus, 73
Cyelorhis, 515
Cygnopsis, 142
Cygnus, 143
Cymbirhynchus, 463
Cymindis, 299
Cynanthus, 447
Cypseliformes, 370, 435
Cypselomorpha, 435
Cypselus, 459
Cyrtonyx, 206

Dab-chick, 67, 68
Dafila, 148
Damophila, 443
Dansador, 473
Daption, 90
Darters, 193
Dasypmwdes, 2
Demoiselle, 125
Dendragapus, 210
Dendrochelidon, 437
Dendrocolaptes, 478
Dendrocolaptide, 478
Dendrocygna, 146
Dendronessa, 148
Dendrortyx, 205
Dentirostres, 484
Dermorhynchi, 136
Derotypus, 367
Desmognathons, 10
Desmopelmous, 368

INDEX.

Diatryma, 33, 55
Dichromatism, 6
Diceidee, 538
Dieruridie, 509
Dicranostreptus, 510
Didide, 238
Didric, 378
Didunculide, 240
Diduneulus, 240
Didus, 238
Dinornis, 43
Dinornithoidex, 43
Diomedea, 86
Diomedide, 85
Diphlogena, 452
Diphyllodes, 522
Dippers, 505
Discura, 445
Dissemurus, 510
Dissoura, 169
Divers, 69

» masked, 73
Docimastes, 452
Dodaers, 239
Dodo, 238
Domicella, 358
Dotterel, 96, 107
Dove, Carolina, 250

» ground, 247

», partridge, 246

» ing, 253

» scaly, 247

», sea, 69

», turtle, 248
Doves, 237
Drepanoptilus, 256
Dromeognathe, 31
Dromognathous, 10
Dromzeopappi, 27
Dromadide, 97
Dromaiide, 40
Dromaius, 40
Dromas, 97
Drongo-shrikes, 509
Dronte, 238
Dryobates, 428
Dryocopus, 429
Ducula, 258
Duck, coscoroba, 147

» @ider, 149

»» Labrador, 151

», loggerhead, 149

»» mandarin, 148

», merganser, 153

»» Muscovy, 146

»» musk, 152

5, race-horse, 149

»» rosy-billed, 146

», ruddy, 152

x» sea, 145

s» Side-wheel, 149

+ Steamer, 149

» surf, 148

» torrent, 153

>» tree, 145
Ducks, 136, 145
Dysporomorph, 181

Eagle, bald-headed, 284

»» black, 285

» Bonelli’s, 284
»» caracara, 301
» crowned, 285
» dwarf, 283

» fishing, 284

» golden, 282

» Guiana, 287

» harpy, 287

» hawk, 284

» imperial, 283

551

Eagle, king, 283

» Malay, 285

»» sea, 284

» serpent, 285

», short-toed, 285
Eagle-vulture, 279
Eagles, 278, 281
Eclectus, 362
Ectopistes, 251
Edible bird’s-nests, 438
Egrets, 178
Eiders, 149
Elanoides, 297
Elanus, 297
Elornis, 154
El Turco, 477
Elvira, 443
Emberiza, 547
Emberizine, 547
Emeu, 41
Empidonax, 471
Emus, 39, 40
Enaliornis, 30
Endaspidian, 464
Enicuride, 489
Enicurus, 489
Enneoctonus, 512
Ephippiorhynchus, 167
Epimachine, 522
Epimachus, 522
Eremomeline, 491
Eretmopodes, 65
Eriocnemis, 443
Erismatura, 132
Erismaturine, 151
Erithacus, 496
Erythropus, 315
Erythosterna, 492
Fsacus, 113
Eucephala, 443
Eudromias, 96
Eudynamys, 375
Eudyptes, 63
Eudyptula, 60
Eugenes, 454
Eugenia, 454
Eulabeia, 142
Eulampis, 455
Eumomota, 397
Euornithes, 64
Eupetes, 490
Eupetomana, 456
Euphema, 356
Euplocamus, 216
Eupodotes, 113
Eupsortyx, 206
Eurhipidure, 31
Eurylaimide, 462
Eurylaimoidex, 460, 462
Eurynorhynchus, 107
Eurypyga, 116
Eurypygide, 116
Eurypygoidide, 115
Eurystomus, 390, 391
Eustiphanus, 452
Eutoxeres, 457
Eutrygon, 242
Euxenura, 169
Exaspidean, 464
Excalfactoria, 199

Falcipennis, 210
Falco, 306, 309
Falcon, Bengal, 309
Af chanting, 308
2 crested, 309
5 Eleanora, 315
” femoral, 315
” finch, 309
» great northern, 311

552

Falcon, Greenland, 311

* hobby, 314

ye Icelander, 311

* kite, 309

oy lanner, 313

oF lugger, 313

ee notched, 309

oe peregrine, 309

a plumbeous, 315

a prairie, 313

a singing, 308
Falconide, 265, 273
Falconin, 308
Falconry, 316
Falcons, 308
Fan-tails, 492, 499
Feathers, 2

sy arrangement of, 3
< color of, 5

Ficedula, 492
Finches, 547
Fin-foots, 68
Fire-backs, 216
Fire-crest, 504
Fire-tail, 446
Fish-crow, 192
Fish-hawk, 192,
Flamingoes, 153, 154
Flickers, 427
Florisuga, 454
Fly-catchers, 468, 492

se Acadian, 471

$3 paradise, 492

3 pied, 402

S53 rose-breasted, 474
a spotted, 492

‘ tyrant, 471

”
Fork-tails, 48°
Formicariidw, 477
Formicariinw, 477
Formicaroidiw, 460, 476
Formicivorine, 477
Francolins, 203
Francolinus, 203
Fratercula, 73
Fregatide, 184
Fregatoidex, 183
Fregatta, 154
Frigate birds, 184
Frigate-pelican, 184
Fregilus, 528
Fringillide, 545
Frog-mouth, 387
Fulica, 131
Fulmar, arctic, 90

» giant, 88, 90
Fulmarus, 90
Funariide, 479
Funarius, 480

Gachita, 94
Galbula, 414
Galbulidae, 412, 414
Galeoscoptes, 507
Galling, 197, 215
Gallinago, 110
Gallinula, 151
Gallinules, 131
Galloperdix, 204
Gallus, 215
Gannets, 188
Gaper, 463
Gare-fowl, 72
Garrulus, 525
Gastornis, 54
Gastornithes, 54
Gavia, 81
Gecinulus, 428
Geese, bernicle, 142

vermilion, 471

INDEX.

Geese black-backed, 146

» land, 142

» sea, 142
Gejr, 72
Gentleman, 188
Geobasites, 390
Geococcyx, 381
Geocolaptes, 428
Geopelia, 250
Geophaps, 244
Geopsittacus, 351
Geositta, 479, 481
Geotrygon, 246
Geranomorphs, 122
Giant heron, 177
Glareolidi, 05
Glareolus, 95
Glaucidium, 329
Gliciphila, 535
Gnat-catchers, 507
Goat-suckers, 387
Godwits, 107
Gold-crest, 504
Gold-finches, 547
Goose, barred-headed, 142

» Cape Barren, 138

» Egyptian, 141

»,» emperor, 142

sy | 20x, 24

aA ray-lag, 142

a Nile, 141

», Orinoco, 141

» semi-palmated, 139

» solan, 188

» Spur-winged, 140

» swallow, 188

» sWan, 142
Goshawks, 304
Goslets, 142
Gouldia, 448
Goura, 242
Gouride, 242
Gracula, 533
Graculavus, 24, 28
Grallz, 91
Grallaria, 477
Granativora, 547
Graphophasianus, 220
Great auk, 72
Grebes, 66
Greenlets, 515
Griffin, 274, 275
Grinder, 493
Griphornis, 21
Grosbeaks, 546
Ground-thrushes, 467
Ground-tits, 506
Grouse, 198, 207

5 blue, 210

a dusky, 210

Fi Hartlaub’s, 210

7 hazel, 212

Pa pine, 210

“1 ruffed, 211

3 spruce, 210

* wood, 210
Gruide, 125
Gruoidex, 121
Grus, 125
Guacharo, 385
Guara, 160
yubernetes, 470
Guillemots, 71
Guinea-fowl, 215
Guinea-hen, 214
Guid-guid, 477
Guira, 374, 383
Gull, black-headed, 78

» fork-tailed, 81

Gull, ivory, 81

» mackerel, 79

s, Ross's, 79

+ Wwedge-tailed, 79
Gulls, 74, 77
Guttera, 214
Gyges, 83
Gymuasio, 326
Gymnopedes, 2
Gymnopelia, 247
Gymnophaps, 252
Gymmorhina, 511
Gymnorhine, 511
Gyrfalcons, 311
Gypaétus, 280
Gypogeranid, 263, 264
Gypogeranus, 263
Gypohierax, 279
Gyps, 275

Habia, 547
Habroptila, 131
Hadrostomus, 474
Hiematopus, 98
Haematospiza, 546
Halcyon, 401, 403
Haleyonine, 401
Haliaétus, 281, 284
Hang-birds, 544
Hang-nests, 544
Haploophone, 459
Haplopelia, 246
Harpactes, 435
Harpagus, 309
Harporhynchus, 507
Harpyhaliaétus, 287
Harpyia, 287
Harriers, 294
Havy-sula, 188
Hawk, chicken, 306

» Cooper's, 306

»» duck, 309

» fish, 192, 293

» goose, 305

» hen, 292

», man-of-war, 184

»» marsh, 294

» hight, 389

», peregrine, 309

» Pigeon, 313

+ quail, 309

»» Sharpshinned, 306

+ Singing, ¢

» Sparrow, 304, 306, 309, 315

squirrel, 291
Hawks, 304
Hmatortyx, 200
Helactin, 449
Helianthea, 452
Heliastur, 281
Heliodilus, 348
Heliodoxa, 454
Heliornis, 68
Heliornithoidew, 68
Heliothrix, 444
Helotarsus, 281, 237
Hemicireus, 425
Hemignathus, 538
Hemistephania, 452
Hen-harrier, 294
Hen-hawks, 292
Henicophaps, 245
Herodias, 178
Herodii, 157
Heron, buff-backed, 158

» giant, 177

» night, 178

», Variegated, 174
Herons, 173
Hesperiphona, 547

Hesperornis, 24, 27
Heteralocha, 530
Heterodactylus, 369
Heteromeri, 463
Heteropelma, 472
Heteropelmous, 369
Hieracidea, 309
Hierax, 309
Hierococeyx, 374
Hierofalco, 311
Hill-myna, 533
Hill-tits, 491
Himantopus, 107
Hippalectro, 41
Hirundinids, 507
Hirundo, 509
Hoatzin, 197
Hobby, 314
Holaspidean, 464
Holorhinal, 11
Homoromeri, 463
Homrai, 407
Honey-bird, 422
Honey-creepers, 540
Honey-eaters, 534
Honey-guides, 421
Honey-suckers, 535
Hoopoes, 410
Hoplopterus, 100
Hornbills, 404
Houbara, 113
Huia-bird, 530
Hummer, Chimborazo, 455
5 horned, 450
a ruby and topaz, 444
H ruby throat, 450
45 sickle-billed, 456
mA sword-billed, 453
sa topaz, 451
Hummers, 441
Hummers, green, 442
Humming-birds, 441
Hydralector, 104
Hydrocoleus, 78
Hydrophasianus, 104
Hylactes, 477
Hylocharis, 443
Hylomanes, 397
Hyporachis, 3
Hypositta, 515
Hypotriorchis, 314

Tache, 443
Tanthzenas, 252
Tbidide, 158
Ibidoidew, 158
Tbidopodia, 158
Tbidorhyneha, 106
Ibis, 158

» glossy, 160

» Sacred, 78, 158, 163

y» Scarlet, 160

», Straw-throated, 160

»» wood, 162
Ibycter, 304
Icelander, 311
Ichthyornis, 24
Teterida, 544
Icterus, 545
Tetinia, 207
Impennes, 56
Indicator, 421
Inertes, 49
Indicatoridw, 412, 421
Invisible bird, 494
Tolwma, 454
Tonornis, 131
Trena, 490
Tronsmith, 420
Irrisor, 412

INDEX.

Trrisorids, 412
Tsland hen, 131
Ithaginis, 216

Jabiru, 167
Jacamaraleyon, 414
Jacamars, 414
Jacamerops, 414
Jacana, 104
Jacanid, 103
Jackass-penguin, 59
Jegers, 75

Jan van Gent, 188
Jays, 524

Joao doido, 414
Juida, 532
Juliamyia, 443
Junco, 547
Jungle-fowl, 215
Jyngine, 433

Jynx, 433

Kagu, 117
Kalij, 216
Kaka, 353
Kakapo, 350
Kenopia, 490
Kestrel, 315
Ketupa, 337
King-auk, 69
King bird, 469, 471
King-crow, 510
Kingfishers, 401
Kinghunter, giant, 401
Kinglets, 504
King-penguin, 59
Kirunbo, 392
Kite, Arabian, 297
», bee, 299
», black, 297

», black-shouldered, 297

» Dblack-winged, 297
», Brahminy, 295
+» common, 296
» everglade, 298
», fork-tailed, 297
»» honey, 299
» hook-billed, 298
», Mississippi, 297
yy, pariah, 297
», Tred, 296
», Yred-backed, 205
» swallow-tailed, 2!
5, White-tailed, 297
Kite-falcon, 309
Kites, 295
Kittiwakes, 81
Kiwi, 48
Knot, 107

Lagonosticte, 543
Lagopus, 207
Lamellirostres, 56, 132, 136
Lamelloso-dentali, 136
Laminiplantares, 481
Liimmergeyer, 280
Lampornis, 455
Lampraster, 454
Lamprococeyx, 378
Lamprocolius, 552
Lamprotornis, 168, 552
Laniarius, 512
Laniide, 511

Lanius, 512

Lanner, 513

Laornis, 30
Laopteryx, 23
Lapwing, 99

Laridw, 77

Larks, 185, 486

553

Laroidea, T4

Larus, 78
Latirostres, 484
Laughing jackass, 402
Laurellardia, 410
Leech-eater, 100
Leguatia, 129
Leiotrichide, 421
Leipoa, 231
Lepidogrammus, 381
Leptomyza, 535
Leptoptila, 246
Leptoptilos, 164
Leptosomatide, 392
Leptosomus, 392
Lerwa, 202

Lesbia, 447
Lestornis, 30
Leucopternis, 290
Leucosarcia 245
Leucosticte, 547
Liemetis, 353
Licornis, 132
Limicolw, 65, 95
Limnaétus, 285
Limnatornis, 410
Limpkin, 121, 127
Lipaugus, 474
Lipoglossa, 404
Lobrophasis, 216, 218
Lobipedes, 122

TM tlisweeti 447
Locust-bird, 532
Locustella, 502
Log-cock, 451
Lomvyias, 71
Longipennes, 56, 65, 75.
Loons, 69
Lophoaétus, 285
Lophodytes, 153
Lopholaimus, 258
Lophophaps, 244
Lophophorning, 223
Lophophorus, 223, 225

s-0
Lophopsittacus, 352
Lophorina, 522
Lophornis, 449
Lophortyx, 206
Lophotriorchis, 285
Lory, 358, 362
Love-birds, 362
Loxia, 546
Loxioideus, 539
Lugger, 313
Lunda, 73

Luscina, 496
L’Ynambn, 52
Lypornix, 413
Lyre-birds, 461

Macaws, 365
Macheropterus, 472
Macrochires, 435
Macrodacetyli, 122
Macrodipteryx, 389
Macronus, 490
Macronyx, 488
Macropsalis, 389
Macropteres, 56
Macropygia, 249
Macrornis, 33, 40
Magaroperdix, 200
Magpies, 526
Maguari, 169
Malaconotins, 512
Malacorhynchus, 148
Mallard, 148
Malurine, 499
Manacus, 472
Manakins, 472

554

Mandarin duck 148
Man-of-war hawk, 184
Manu-ma, 257
Ma-quaai, 373
Marabou, 164
Martin, European, 509
» . purple, 509
», bee, 469, 471
Martineta, 54
Mascarinus, 360
Masius, 472
Masked divers, 73
Meewah, 104
Megacephalon, 231
Megalaima, 420
Megalaimidm, 412, 418
Megalestris, 75
Megalophonus, 486
Megalornis, 33, 40
Megapodes, 229
Megapodidm, 229
Megapodinaw, 229
Megapodius, 230
Meiornis, 44
Melampitta, 466
Melanerpes, 431
Melanocorypha, 486
Melanoperdix, 200
Meleagride, 222
Meleagrinm, 222
Meleagris, 222
Melierax, 308
Meliphagide, 535
Mellisuga, 450
Melodes, 497
Melopetia, 247
Melopitta, 466
Melospiza, 547
Melopsittacus, 355
Menura, 461
Menuridm, 461
Menuroidem, 460
Merganetta, 153
Mergansers, 152
Merlin, 313
Meropida, 395
Meropina, 397
Merops, 396
Merula, 496
Mesites, 115, 119
Mesitidi, 119
Mesomyodi, 459
Mesomyodous, 459
Metallura, 444
Metopiana, 146
Metopidins, 104
Metriopelia, 247
Micrastur, 308
Micrathene, 328
Microcichla, 489
Microglossus, 354
Microperdix, 199
Micropodide, 437
Mieropodins, 437, 439
Micropodoides, 435
Micropsittacida, 357
Micropus, 439
Middle coverts, 4
Migration, 16
Milvago, 302
Milvulus, 470
Milvus, 206
Mimida, 507
Mimus, 507
Minivet, 509
Mire-drum, 175
Mitua, 233
Mniotiltida, 540
Moa, 43
Mocking-birds, 507

INDEX.

Modest-bird, 257
Moho, 131, 535
Molothrus, 545
Molting, 4
Momotid, 395, 397
Momotus, 398
Monals, 225

Monasa, 413

Moor hen, 131
Morphnus 287
Motacilla, 488
Motacillids, 487
Mother Carey's chickens, 89
Motmot, 397
Mountain whistler, 494
Mountain witch, 246
Muis-vogel, 394
Murres, 71
Muscicapa, 492
Muscicapide, 492
Muscles, 14
Muscivora, 469
Muscovy duck, 146
Muscular formula, 14
Musophagidi, 371
Musophagus, 372
Myadestes, 494
Mycteria, 167
Myristicivora, 258
Myzomela, 535

Nandu, 37

Nanodes, 355

Nasica, 478

Nasiterna, 358

Natatores, 56

Nauclerus, 297

Nectarinia, 537

aiden Seeie S 536
eophron, 277

Neopus, obs

Nesoceleus, 427

Nesocichla, 494

Nestor, 352

Nettepus, 142

Night-hawk, 389

Nightingales, 496

> Ceylon, 491

Night-jur, 889

Ninox, 332

Nisaétus, 281, 284

Noddies, 83

Nomopelmons, 368

Nothocrax, 233, 234

Notornis, 131

Nothura, 54

Nucifraga, 526

Numeniina, 106

Numenius, 106

Numidinae, 213

Nut-crackers, 526

Nuthatches, 515

Nyctale, 344

Nyetia, 335

Nyctibiinie, 387

Nyctibius, 387

Nycticorax, 178

Nyctiornis, 397

Oceanitine, 85
Oceanites, 88
Oceanitidie, 85, 88
Oceanodroma, 88
Ochreati, 464
Ocydromus, 128
Ocyphaps, 246
Odontoholce, 24, 27
Odontophorinm, 205
Odontophorus, 205
Odontormi, 23

Odontornithes, 23
CLdicnemidse, 112
Gdicnemus, 112
Oidemia, 146
Oil-bird, 385
Oil-gland, 9
Old squaw, 148
Oligomyodi, 459
Olor 145
Onychotes, 290
Oo, 536
Open-bill, 166
Ophrysia, 199
Opisthocomi, 196
Opisthocomus 196
Oreonympha, 445
Oreortyx, 206
Oreoperdix, 201
Oreophasina, 232
Oreophasis, 232
Oreotrochilus, 455
Oriole, Baltimore, 545
Ks American, 544
Orioles, true, 515
Oriolida, 515
Oriolus, 515
Ornithopappi, 21
Ortalis, 233°.
Orthonyx, 490
Ortolan, 547
Ortygornis, 204
Ortyx, 206
Oscines, 481
Ostrich, African, 33
3 South American, 37
Osprey, 203
Ossifraga, 88, 90
Ostinops, 545
Otidid, 56, 113
Otidiphaps, 242
Otis, 113
Otocoris, 486
Otogyps, 277
Otus, 543
Ouzel, ring, 496
“water, 496
Oven-birds, 480
Owl, Acadian, 344
» barn, 346
» barred, 345
» brown, 345
», burrowing, 324
» @agle, 337
» flammulated, 342
y» gnome, 330
» great grey, 345
» hairy-footed, 332
» hawk, 334
» horned, 337
» laughing, 333
» little, 827
»» long-eared, 343
» mottled, 342
» pigmy, 329
» powerful, 333
» Richardson’s, 344
» Saw-whet, 344
»» Sereech, 342, 346
+ Scops, 341, 342
» Short-eared, 343
»» Snowy, 335
» Sparrow, 330
» Spotted, 528
» tawny, 345
», Tengmalm’s, 344
» White-faced, 333
». Whitney’s, 328
Owl-parrots, 350
Owls, 321
Ox-peckers, 533

Oxyrhynchide, 469
Oxyrhynchus, 469
Oyster-catchers, 98

Pachyrhamphus, 474
Paleweudyptes, 63
Palwocygnus, 143
Palolod poe 154
Palzwolodus, 154
Palornis, 360
Palewornithida, 359
Palapteryx, 44
Palamedm, 154
Palate, 10
Paludicole, 122
Pamprodactylous, 370, 394
Pandi ion, 293
Pandionine, 293
Panoplites, 454 “
Panterpe, 443
Panychlora, 442
te ont 439
Paradiszea, 519
Paradise birds, 519
Paradiswide, 516
Paradiseinw, 516
Parakeet, black-billed, 367
a Carolina, 365
. grass, 355, 356
55 gray-breasted, 366
: ground, 356
a hanging, 360
+ monk, 366
fi red-tailed, 366
‘ rosella, 357
Parotia, 521
Parra, 104
Parrot, bat, 359
» gray, 363
»» green, 367
+» ground, 351
¥4 feet 364
aka, 353
» Madagascar, 360
» owl, 350
»» Philip Island, 352
» racket-tailed, 362
» Ting, 361
vaza, 363
Parrots, B49
Parson-bird, 535
Partridge, 3B
Fy bamboo, 203
a erested, 206
” gray, 204
A hill, 201
ai plumed, 206
a red-legged, 201
99 swamp, a
Tibetan, 2
Partr idge-dove, ern
Partridges 198, 200, 205
Parus, 515
Passer, 546
Passeres, 458
Passeriformes, 370
Passeroidem, 460, 451
Pastor, 532
Patagona, 453
Pauxis, 253
Pavo, 229
Pavoncella, 108
Peacock, 229
Peacock-pheasant, 228
Peafowl, 229
Pedicetes, 209
Peewit, 09
Pelargomorphi, 157
Pelargopappus, 163
Pelecanidew, 185

INDEX.

Pelecaniformes, 65
Pelecanoidide, 90, 185
Pelecanoides, 91
Pelecanus, 186
Pelicans, 184, 188
Penelope, 233
Peénelopina, 233
Penelopina, 233
Penguin, Apterous, 49
a northern, 72
Penguins, 56
Penthoceryx, 374
Perdicinew, 198
Perdicula, 199
Perdix, 200
Perdiz, 52
Peregrine, 309
Pericrocotus, 509
Perisoreus, 524
Peristera, 246, 241
Peristeripodes, 2 22
Pernis, 299
Petasphora, 454
Petrels, 88, 91
Petrochelidon, 507, 509
Petronia, 546
Petrophassa, 246
Peucwa, 547
Pezophaps, 239
Pezoporus, 552
Pheenorhina, 258
Phethon, 181
Phethontoidew, 181
Pheethornis, 456
Phalacrocoracide, 190
Phalacrocorax, 191
Phalaropes 107
Phalaropodine, 107
Phaps, 244
Pharaoh’s chicken, 278
Pharomacrus, 454
Phasianide, 213
Phasianine, 216
Phasianus, 216, 220
Phasidus, 215
Pheasant, argus, 227
i blood, 216

mn crow, 351

i eared, 226

ae English, 222

os fireback, 216
3 golden, 219

- impeyan, 225
- kaleege, * b16

at kalij, © 216

= koklass, 223

3 Lady Amherst, 219
“A L’ huy Sii’s, 225
a lyre-t ailed, “61
i peacoc

» qpuaree,

i teeve’

7 Sclater’s

ry silver, 216, 217
> snow, 202

Bs Wallich’s, 221

Ae white-winged, 222
Pheasants, 204, 213
Phibalura, 474
Philacte, 142
Philepitta, 465
Philepittids, 465
Philitwrus, 542
Phlegeenas, 245
Phlo; rophilus, dt
Phodilus, 324, 346
Phoenicoparra, 14
Phanicopterida, 154
Phoenicopleroidex, 153
Pheenicopterus, 154

Pheolema, 454
Photodilus, 324, 346
Phyllopseustes, 504
Phytotoma, 475
Phy totomid, 475
Piaya, 375
Pica, 526
Picapare, 68
Picariw, 368
Picicoryus, 526
Picid, 412, 423
Piciformes, 370, 412
Piciney, 426
Picoides, 412
Picoides, 429
Piculets, 425
Picumninw, 425
Picumnus, 425
Picus, 428
Pigeon, blue-headed, 243
f bronze-wing, 245
Pr pruee 245
ES, Cape, 90
» crested, 245
7) crowned, 241
Fi green, ere
a Ga
icobar, mn
a passenger, 251
»» Ppheasant-tailed, 25
», Stock, 253
tooth-billed, 240
ns white-crowned, 254
a wild, 251
Pigeons, 237
Pinnipedes, 56
Pintail, 148
Pionide, 367
Pipile, 233
Pipits, 487
Piranga, 541
Piririgui, 384
Pipra, 472
Pipridzw, 472
Pitylinee, 547
Plant-cutters, 475
Plantain-eaters, 371
Platalea, 161
Platycercide, 354
Platycereus, 356
Platyrhynchus, 471
Plautus, 72
Plectrophenax, 546
Plectropteridz, 140
Plectropterus, 14
Plegadis, 160
Plictolophidaw, 333
Plictolophus, 353
Plissolophus, 354
Ploceidw, 542
Plotus, 193
Plover, crab, 97
» crook-billed, 101
golden, 96
spur-winged, 100
», Stone, 112
wry-billed, 101
Plov ers, 98
Pluyiales, 65
Pluvialiformes, 65
Pluvianellus, 00
Pluvianus, 100
Pnueopyg
Podargidi
Podargus, 3ST
Podieca, 68
Podiceps, 67
Podilymbus, 68
| Podocypide, 66
Pogonorhy nehus, 420

555

556

Polioaétus, 284
Polioptila, 507
Polioptilins, 507
Polyborina, 400
Polyboroides, 295
Polyborus, 301
Polyplectron, 227
Polytmus, 443
Porocephalus, 367
Porphyrio, 131
Porzana, 128
Poule rouge, 129
Powder-downs, 4
Precoces, 3

Prairie-chickens, 209

Prairie-hens, 209
Pratincola, 498
Pratincoles, 95
Primaries, 3
Prion, 90
Prionitunus, 362
Priotelus, 435
Procellaria, 88
Protellariidi, 88
Procellariina, 89
Procellaroidea, 84
Progne, 509
Prosthemadera, 535
Protonotaria, 540
Psalidoprocne, 509
Pseudotantalus, 163
Psittacella, 358
Psittaci, 349
Psittacida, 363
Psittacula, 367
Psittacus, 364
Psophia, 123
Psophidw, 122
Ptarmigan, 207
Ptermistes, 204
Pterocles, 235
Pterocletes, 235
Pterocnemia, 38
Pterocorys, 486
Pteroclidm, 235
Pteroglossus, 417
Pteropappi, 23
Pteropxdes, 3
Pterophanes, 453
Pteroptochide, 476
Pterylex, 3
Ptilopachus, 201
Ptilopteri, 56

Ptilonorhynchus, 566

Ptilorhis, 522
Ptilopus, 256
Pueras, 223
Pucrasia, 223
Puff-birds, 413
Puftins, 73
Pukeko, 131
Pycnaspidean, 464
Pycnonotina, 490
Pyecnonotus, 490
Pygarrichus, 479
Pygopodes, 56, 65
Pygoscelis, 59
Pygostyle, 12
Pyrocephalus, 471
Pyroderus, 474
Pyrrhocorax, 528
Pyrrhulauda, 486
Pyrrhura, 366

Quails, 198-206
Quesal, 454
Quiscalus, 532
Quits, 540

Rails, 127

INDEX.

Rallidmw, 127
Rallus, 128
Ramphastids, 412, 414
Ramphastos, 414
Raptatores, 260
Raptores, 260
Rasores, 197
Ratite, 32
Raven, 526
Razor-bill, 72
Rectrices, 4
Reeuvirostra, 107
Recurvirostring, 107
Reguline, 504
Regulus, 504
Reinwardteena, 249
Reticulate tarsus, 9
Rhamphoceelus, 541
Rhamphomieron, 445
Rhea, 38
Rheoidew, 37
Rheinardius, 227
Rhinoplax, 408
Rhipidura, 492
Rhodonessa, 146, 148
Rhodosthethx, 79
Rhynchea, 110
Rhynchopine, 83
Rhynchops, 83
Rhynchotus, 52
Rhynochetidee, 117
Rhynochetos, 117
Ridgwayia, 494
Rifleman, 465
Ring ouzel, 496
Rissa, 81
Road-runner, 381
Roa-roa, 49
Robin, American, 496
» _ English, 496
Roe, 47
Rock-hopper, 63
Rollers, 389
Rollulus, 200
Rostrhamus, 298
Rostratula, 110
Rotge, 69
Roulroul, 200
Ruby-throat, 450
Rue, 47
Rupicola, 473
Ruff, 108
Rutibrenta, 142

Sacfa, 200
Sage-cock, 209
Salpinetes, 505
Sanderling, 107
Sand-grouse, 235
Sandpipers, 107
Sappho, 446
Sap-suckers, 432
Sarcorhamphus, 268
Sarkedornis, 146
Sasia, 426
Saurognathous, 10, 423
Saurure, 21
Saxicola, 498
Scardafella, 247
Schistes, 444
Schizognathous, 10
Schizorhinal, 11
Schizopelmous, 369
Scissor-tail, 470
Schlegelia, 522
Scleroptera, 203
Scolopacids, 105
Scolopacinw, 110
Scolopacoidew, 94
Scopide, 170

Scops, 341
Scopus, s70
Scoters, 148
Scotopelia, 337
Screamers, 132
Scrub-birds, 462
Scutellate tarsus, 9
Scytalopus, 476
Seythrops, 378
Sea-dove, 69
Sea-hawk, 77
Sea-hen, 75
Sea-swallow, 188
Secondaries, ¢
Secretary, 263
Seleucides, 522
Selasphorus, 449
Semioptera, 522
Semiplumes, 4
Senculus, 516
Seriema, 121
Serrati, 136
Serratirostres, 397
Serresius, 253
Serrirostres, 56
Shags, 191
Shame-bird, 257
Sharp-tails, 209
Shearwater, 83, 90
Sheath-bills, 92
Sheldrake, 146
Shoe-bill, 171
Shovelers, 148
Shrike, ant, 477
» euckoo, 509
» erow, 511
» drongo, 509
x» Swallow, 511
», true, 511
Sialia, 494
Sifters, 136
Silvia, 502
Silviinw, 501
Simorhynchus, 72
Sisura, 493
Sitta, 515
Sittace, 365
Sittine, 514
Skua, 75
Skimmers, 83
Skull, 10
Snake-bird, 195, 433
Snipes, 110
Snow-cocks, 202
Snow-flake, 546
Solan goose, 188
Solitaire, 239, 494
Solitary, 239
Somateria, 150
Soroplex, 428
Soufriére bird, 494
Spatula, 148
Sparrow, hedge, 492
oy English, 546
Sparrow-hawks, 304, 306
Spectacled guillemot, 72
Speotyto, 324
Spheniscide, 56
Spheniseus, 59
Sphenoproctus, 456
Sphenorhynehus, 167
Sphyrapicus, 432
Spilornis, 286
Spindalis, 541
Spinus, 547
Spizaétus, 285
Spizella, 547
Spizastur, 285
Spiziapteryx, 309
Spoon-bills, 158, 161

Sporadinus, 442
Stake-driver, 177
Standard-wing, 522
Starlings, 529
Starnewnas, 245
Steatornis, 385
Steatornithide, 385
Steatornithoides, 371
Steganopodes, 56, 179
Steganura, 445
Stegnolwema, 233
Stelgidopteryx, 509
Stellula, 49
Stenostira, 507
Sterna, 81, 83
Stercorariide, 75
Stercorarius, 76
Sternoclyta, 454
Sternula, 83
Sthelenides, 143
Stictaenas, 253
Stint, Temmincks, 108
Stipiturus, 499
Stone chat, 498
Storks, 162-169
Strepera, 511
Streptopelia, 249
Strigide, 265, 321
Striginew, 324
Stringopide, 350
Stringops, 350
Struthio, 33
Struthiolithus, 55
Struthioidea, 33
Struthiones, 32
Struthionide, 33
Sturnide, 529
Sturnus, 531
Sula, 188
Sulidz, 188
Sun-birds, 536
Sun-bitterns, 115
Sun-grebes, 68
Surf-bird, 99
Surf-ducks, 148
Surnia, 334
Surniculus, 380
Suthora, 514
Suthoriney, 514
Sutoria, 499
Sun-gem, 450
Swallow, bank, 509
5 barn, 509
as chimney, 439
3 rough winged, 509
" sea, 188
ze white-bellied, 509
BS wood, 511
Swallow-shrikes, 511
Swallows, 507
Swans, 145
Swiftlets, 437
Swifts, 437
Synallaxine, 480
Synallaxis, 479
Synoicus, 199
Synpelmons, 369
Syornis, 44
Syrinx, 373
Syrmaticus, 220
Syrnium, 345
Syrrhaptes, 235

Tachornis, 440
Tachyeres, 149
Tadorna, 146
Tailor-bird, 499
Tallegallins, 231
Tallegallus, 231
Tanagers, 541

INDEX.

Tanagra, 541
Tanagride, 441
Tantalus, 164
Tanygnathus, 362
Tanysiptera, 402
Taoniscus, 54
Tarapunga, 79
Tarsus, 464
Tattler, 107
Taxaspidean, 464
Teaser, 76
Temnotrogon, 435
Tenuirostres, 484, 534
Terpsiphone, 492
Terns, 77, $1
Tertiaries, 3
Tetragonops, 420
Tetrao, 209
Tetraonide, 198
Tetraonineg, 207
Tetraophasis, 225
Tetrapteryx, 125
Thalasseus, 83
Thamnophiline, 477
Thaumalea, 216, 219
Thick-knees, 112
Thinocoridse, 93
Thinocoris, 93
Thorn-bird, 480
Thrasaétus, 287
Thrush, ant, 466, 477

» babbling, 490

» fruit, 490

» ground, 467

», song, 494

+ wood, 494
Thrushes, 493
Tiga, 427
Tichodroma, 539
Timaliide, 490
Tilmatura, 449
Timolia, 443
Tinamine, 54
Tinamotine, 54
Tinamous, 54
Tinnunculus, 306, 315
Tit, ground, 506

5, wren, 506
Tits, hill, 491
», true, 515

Tityra, 474
Tockus, 404
Toco, 417
Todidz, 395, 399
Todies, 399
Todirostrum, 471
Todus, 399
Toothed birds, 23
Topaza, 452
Toporok, 74
Totanus, 108
Toucans, 414
Tracheophone, 459
Trachyphonus, 420
Tragopans, 224
Tree-ducks, 145, 146
Treron, 255
Treronids, 254
Trichoglossid, 358
Trichoglossus, 355
Tringine, 107
Trochilidz, 441
Trochilos, 100
Trochilus, 449
Troglodytes, 476
Troglodytidw, 505
Trogonide, 433
Trogonoidew, 433
Trogons, 433
Tropic-birds, 181

557

Troupial, 545
‘Trumpeter, 123, 143
Tubinares, 65, 84
Turaccena, 249
Turacou, 372
Turacus, 372
Turdida, 493
Turdus, 494
Turkey-buzzard, 267
Turkeys, 222
Turkey, brush, 232
Turnstones, 95
Turtle-dove, 248
Turtur, 245
Tympanistria, 246
Tyrannide, 468
Tyrannoide, 460, 463
Tyrannus, 469, 471
Tyrant birds, 468

Umber-bird, 170
Umbrella bird, 474
Umbrette, 170
Under coverts, 4
Upper coverts, 4
Upupa, 410, 411
Upupide, 411
Upupoide, 408
Uranomitra, 443
Uria, 71
Urinator, 69
Urinatorids, 69
Urochroa, 454
Urocissa, 526
Urogalba, 414
Urubitinga, 290

Vaginati, 92
Vanellus, 99
Vaza, 363
Verreauxia, 425
Vida, 543
Vidua, 543
Vidua loca, 127
Virago, 145
Vireonida, 513
Vireonine, 513
Vivia, 426
Vultur, 274
Vulture, bearded, 280
” black, 266
ae California, 268
+ crested black, 274
Ay eagle, 279
a eared, 274
rf Egyptian, 277
A fulvous, 274
a iffon, 275
5 ing, 268
5 Nubian, 277
ae Pondicherry, 277
7 Riippell’s, 276
+ white, 275
Vultures, American, 266
Ae Old World, 273
ie true, 274
Vulturine, 273

Waders, 92
Warbler, fantail, 499
5 grass, 499
y grasshopper, 502
” prothonotary, 540
Warblers, American, 540
Wax-bills, 543
Wax-wing, Bohemian, 511
Weaver-birds, 542
Weka, 129
Western grebe, 67
Wheatears, 498

558

Whinchat, 498
Whip-poor-will, 389
Whiskey-jack, 524
Wood-cock, 105
Wood-hens, 128

+ eafion, 505
» emn, 499

INDEX.

Wren, t, 468
Wrens,

Wren-tit, 506
Wry-neck, 433

Xipholena, 474
Yaitte, 428

e,
Yakamik, 123
Ynambn, 54
Yungipicus, 428

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